■v:  s-v 


Selected  Old  Testament 
Studies. 


BY 

J.  B.  SHEARER,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Professor  of  Biblical    Instruction,   Davidson  College ;    Author  of  Bible    Course 

Syllabus :  Modern  Mysticism  ;  Sermon  on  the  Mount  ;  Studies  in  the 

Life  of  Christ ;  and  The  Scriptures,  Fundatnental  Facts 

and  Features. 


RICHMOND,  VA.: 
Presbyterian    Committee  of  Publication. 


Copyright  by 

R.  E,  MAGILL, 

Secretary  of  Publication, 

1909. 


Bebtcatton. 


TO  THE  NUMEROUS   FRIENDS  AND    CRITICS   WHO   HAVE   SPOKEN 

SO  KINDLY  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  FORMER  VOLUMES 

THIS  BOOK  IS  GRATEFULLY 

DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Origin  of  Sacrafices — Cain  and  Abel  Feud, 9 

CHAPTER  n. 
The  Earliest  Civilization,   16 

CHAPTER  HI. 
The  Deterioration  of  the  Race, 23 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Unity  of  the  Human  Race, 30 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Covenant  with   Noah, 38 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Missionary  Covenant, 48 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Sabbath, 63 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The   Christian    Sabbath    or   Lord's   Day, 72 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Religious  Institutions  of  Moses, 81 

CHAPTER  X. 
Ministers  of   Religion — The   Priesthood, 89 


6  Contents 

CHAPTER  XL 
Ministers  of  Religion — The  Prophets, 98 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Tithes — How   Far  Binding, 107 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Book  of  Genesis, 120 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Four  Other  Books  of  Moses, 127 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Book  of  Job, 137 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Job, — Continued — Its   Contents 147 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

ECCLESIASTES,    OR    THE    RoYAL    TEACHING    PrEACHER, 162 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Daniel    and    His    Times,    or    The    Significance    of    the 
Captivity,   1 72 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Biblical  Criticism,  182 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Bible  and  the  Monuments, 195 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Bible  and  the  Monuments, — Continued 201 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  Synagogue,   214 


PREFACE. 


The  author  in  several  preceding  volumes  has  found 
it  easy  to  group  a  number  of  discussions  in  each, 
and  to  express  the  unity  in  each  volume  by  an  appro- 
priate name.  It  has  not  been  so  easy  to  find  a  unify- 
ing name  for  twenty-two  chapters  gathered  into  this 
little  volume.  The  name  chosen,  "Selected  Old  Tes- 
tament Studies,"  is  not  very  suggestive  without  a  word 
of  explanation.  On  what  principle  have  they  been 
selected?  Not  because  they  are  separately  more  val- 
uable, or  more  interesting,  or  more  original  than  many 
others.  Every  teacher  and  expounder  of  Scripture 
must  keep  abreast  of  contemporaneous  thought, 
whether  true  or  false,  and  he  must  vindicate  the  true 
by  differentiating  it  from  the  false,  rather  by  careful 
and  accurate  definition,  than  by  controversial  assaults 
upon  error. 

The  careful  reader  will  perceive  that  the  author 
aims  to  show  the  coherency  of  all  Scripture  and  its 
obvious  claims,  as  against  the  disintegrating  and  de- 
structive tendencies  of  the  present  day.  He  seeks  to 
present  a  number  of  truths  in  a  common  sense  way 
so  as  to  leave  no  standing  for  prevalent  errors  even 
though  they  be  set  forth  with  a  wonderful  parade  of 


8  Preface 

scholarship,  science  and  philosophy.  It  is  usually 
sufficient  to  set  forth  the  truth  in  its  simplicity  and 
then  to  define  the  principles  and  methods  of  its  adver- 
saries. There  is  a  sense  in  which  truth,  clearly  stated, 
is  its  own  witness,  while  heresy  carefully  analyzed 
and  defined  is  its  own  refutation. 

Is  not  the  author's  aim  worthy  of  all  praise  even  if 
the  execution  fall  below  his  ideal  ? 

Davidson,  N.  C.  J.    B.  SHEARER. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies. 


CHAPTER  I 
Origin  of  Sacrifices  — Cain  and  Abel  Feud. 

All  ordinances  of  worship  are  of  divine  origin  and 
appointment.  They  are  not  only  permitted  but  en- 
joined in  the  Scriptures.  They  are  valuable  only  be- 
cause so  appointed.  The  whole  plan  of  salvation  is 
ordained  of  God,  and  all  the  steps  and  means  are  exactly 
adapted  to  that  end.  It  was  impossible  for  the  sinner 
to  improve  God's  plan  by  adding  anything  thereto  or 
by  taking  anything  therefrom.  Attempted  human  ad- 
ditions are  called  will  worship.  Christ  denounced 
those  who  "teach  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
men." 

Some  assert  that  the  ordinances  of  religion  as  we 
find  them  in  the  Scriptures  are  the  outgrowth  of  man's 
felt  necessities  as  he  emerged  into  a  higher  state  of 
conscious  religious  life.  This  theory  is  in  the  interest 
of  a  naturalistic  evolution  of  all  religion,  as  well  as 
doctrine  and  morals ;  for  all  three  are  a  coherent  unit. 
We  shall  not  formally  discuss  this  theory  here. 

Others  think  that  God  found  certain  forms  and  or- 
dinances in  use  among  men  in  various  human  systems, 
and  adopted  and  adapted  them  to  his  purposes,  with 
all    necessary    modifications.     These    deny    that    they 


10  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

have  any  sympathy  with  the  doctrine  of  evolution. 
Yet  they  assume  that  Polytheistic  Paganism  is  older 
than  Monotheism ;  they  seem  to  limit  the  divine  re- 
sources to  mere  human  inventions ;  they  are  pleased  to 
find  many  Bible  ordinances  in  remote  antiquity  while 
they  greatly  foreshorten  the  antiquity  of  Bible  ordi- 
nances in  their  authoritative  form  as  found  in  the 
Books  of  Moses.  The  logic  of  their  contention  is  that 
Bible  religion  is  a  modified  paganism.  Of  course  they 
resent  this  conclusion. 

The  better  view,  and  the  common  sense  view 
would  seem  to  be  that  the  religion  of  the  beginning 
was  pure  and  uncorrupted  and  of  divine  origin.  When 
men  apostatized  from  the  true  faith,  the  process  was 
gradual,  and  they  carried  with  them  divinely  appointed 
ordinances,  modifying  and  corrupting  them  in  a  purely 
naturalistic  way,  until  most  pagan  practices,  and  their 
teachings  also,  are  but  travesties  of  the  good  and  the 
true. 

The  Papacy  only  is  consistent  in  claiming  authority 
for  human  inventions  in  worship,  because  her  claimed 
infalibiUty  gives  them  all  the  authority  of  a  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord."  She  has  also  consistently  adopted  many 
heathen  doctrines  and  practices  into  her  system  until 
in  many  parts  of  the  world  Romanism  is  not  much  bet- 
ter than  a  baptized  paganism. 

We  propose  to  consider  here  the  origin  of  sacrifices, 
and  incidentally  their  nature.  Two  classes  of  sacri- 
fices date  back  to  the  beginning.  By  sacrifices  we 
mean  all  offerings  made  by  fire  on  the  altar  before  the 
Lord.  These  are  bloody  offerings  and  meat  offerings. 
They  are  coeval  with  the  race,  or,  at  least,  they  date 
back  to  the  Fall.  The  bloody  ofifering  was  a  sacrifi- 
cial victim  whose  blood  was  shed.     The  meat  oflfering 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  ii 

was  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground.  In  later  times  these 
consisted  of  cereals,  and  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  it 
was  so  from  the  beginning. 

When  we  consider  that  Moses  notes  these  two 
offerings  in  his  brief  history  in  Genesis,  we  may  fairly 
conclude  that  they  were  exactly  what  he  and  his  gene- 
ration were  familiar  with  and  understood  them  to  be, 
both  in  form  and  significance.  Things  perfectly  fa- 
miliar require  no  exposition  nor  enumeration  of  details 
when  referred  to  in  a  historic  way. 

Abel  offered  "of  the  firstlings  of  his  flocks  and  of 
the  fat  thereof" — a  clean  animal  for  sacrifice — a  lamb 
of  the  first  year — an  atonement  for  sin.  "Cain  brought 
of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering  to  the  Lord." 
This  was  a  thank  offering  in  a  ceremonial  system.  We 
may  not  suppose  that  they  invented  these  offerings  and 
that  God  afterward  adopted  and  enjoined  them  as 
necessary  forms  of  worship,  and  then  defined  their  re- 
lations, first  atonement  and  then  thanksgiving  in 
proper  order. 

They  must  date  back  to  the  very  first  God-given 
lessons  in  acceptable  worship.  For  we  read  that  "God 
made  them  coats  of  skins  and  clothed  them"  so  as  to 
cover  their  shame.  These  skins  must  have  been  taken 
from  sacrificial  victims  for  they  were  not  permitted  to 
kill  animals  for  food  till  after  the  flood.  Gen.  iii.  21 ; 
i.  29 ;  ix.  3.  If  the  bloody  offering  was  instituted  then, 
the  meat  offering  must  have  been  instituted  at  the 
same  time  because  of  their  essential  relations.  And 
then  we  find  them  associated  very  soon  afterwards. 
Why  one  was  rejected  we  shall  see  presently. 

One  or  both  of  these  offerings,  usually  both,  are 
found  in  all  religious  systems.  We  may  find  traces  of 
them  in  the  very  lowest  forms  of  religious  culture,  in 


12  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

efforts  to  placate  or  to  ingratiate  a  deity.  Altars  and 
victims  and  sacrificial  feasts  have  been  the  rule  in  all 
ages,  handed  down  by  tradition  and  variously  modi- 
fied. Thank  offerings  and  votive  offerings  have  en- 
riched the  temples  and  shrines  of  all  ages.  Even  can- 
nibalism was  first  a  religious  ritual  of  human  sacri- 
fices and  it  is  even  yet  a  beastly  religious  festivity. 

These  two  offerings  carry  with  them  the  same  sig- 
nificance of  atonement  and  thanksgiving  wherever 
found.  Their  true  significance  is  not  wholly  lost  in  the 
most  corrupt  and  depraved  systems  of  paganism,  much 
less  in  those  which  are  most  cultured  and  intellectual. 
Their  true  typical  character  has,  however,  been  lost 
out  side  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 

The  bloody  offering  is  really  typical  and  prophetic 
of  the  Lamb  of  God.  It  never  was  possible  for  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  goats  to  take  away  sin.  The  sole 
efficacy  of  the  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar,  or  before 
the  Lord  within  the  vail,  was  derived  from  the  blood  of 
Christ  which  it  typified.  We  need  not  repeat  here  the 
discussion  of  typology  except  to  say  that  type  is  pro- 
phecy, and  therefore  impossible  to  human  invention. 
The  meat  offering  was  equally  a  type  of  Christ,  though 
not  so  obvious  perhaps,  nor  so  often  expounded  and 
emphasized. 

Both  these  classes  of  offerings  were  used  along 
down  the  ages,  down  to  Moses,  and  then  they  were  en- 
joined and  emphasized  with  great  minuteness  of  detail, 
that  they  might  not  be  forgotten,  but  preserved  as  a 
great  volume  of  prophecy  in  elaborate  object  lessons, 
against  the  time  of  general  apostasy.  Leviticus  and 
Hebrews  need  to  be  studied  together  if  we  would  know 
what  it  all  meant  to  devout  and  believing  Israel  from 
Abraham  to  Christ. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  13 

The  whole  system  was  discontinued  by  the  logic  of 
events  after  the  true  lamb  was  slain,  and  Christ  ful- 
filled it  all.  When  the  substance  came  the  shadows 
passed  away.  Col.  ii.  17;  Heb.  viii.  5 ;  x.  i ;  et  passim. 
We  are  constrained  therefore  to  conclude  that  all  the 
sacrifices  and  offerings  were  of  divine  origin  and  ap- 
pointment. 

The  Cain  and  Abel  feud  was  based  on  rival  theories 
of  the  authority  and  value  of  these  offerings.  The  full 
story  is  given  in  Genesis  iv.  1-8.  "In  process  of  time 
it  came  to  pass  that  Cain  brought  of  the  fruits  of  the 
ground  an  offering  unto  the  Lord.  And  Abel,  he  also 
brought  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flocks  and  of  the  fat 
thereof.  And  the  Lord  had  respect  unto  Abel  and  his 
offering;  but  unto  Cain  and  his  offering  he  had  not  re- 
spect." 

We  note  here  several  points  of  interest  expressed 
or  implied. 

1.  There  was  an  evident  rivalry  between  the  two 
brothers,  and  a  radical  disagreement  as  to  matters  of 
fundamental  importance  in  worship. 

2.  "At  a  set  time ;"  "at  the  end  of  days"  is  the  literal 
rendering  of  the  Hebrew ;  at  a  set  time  the  matter  was 
referred  to  a  divine  decision.  The  decision  was  in  favor 
of  Abel's  theory  and  against  Cain's. 

3.  Each  person  was  accepted  or  rejected,  stood  or 
fell,  with  his  offering,  because  every  act  of  worship  is 
the  expression  of  the  faith  and  piety  of  the  worshipper. 

4.  Abel  made  the  atonement  offering  of  blood  in 
faith,  as  was  appointed  for  sinners,  and  was  accepted 
along  with  his  offering.     Heb.  xi.  4. 

5.  Cain  refused  to  make  the  atonement  offering, 
but  relied  for  acceptance  on  a  thank  offering.     He  evi- 


14  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

dently  denied  his  need  of  an  atonement  and  denied  his 
own  sinfulness.     This  will  appear  from  his  rebuke. 

6.  Cain  and  Abel  seem  to  be  at  the  head  of  two 
rival  parties.  Men  had  evidently  begun  to  multiply  on 
the  earth ;  for  Cain  and  his  followers  "went  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,"  that  is,  from  the  usual  place  of 
accepted  worship  (as  the  phrase  implied  in  the  mouth 
of  Moses)  and  he  builded  a  city  and  called  the  name  of 
it  after  the  name  of  his  son,  Enoch.  Henceforth  there 
were  two  peoples,  the  "Sons  of  God,"  of  whom  Seth 
was  the  head,  and  the  "Sons  of  men"  of  whom  Cain 
was  the  head,  one  orthodox,  the  other  apostate. 

But  to  return,  "Cain  was  very  wroth,  and  his  coun- 
tenance fell."  He  was  not  satisfied  with  the  test  of 
his  creed,  and  was  angry  at  the  Lord  for  exposing  his 
selfrighteous  pretensions."  And  the  Lord  said  to 
Cain,  Why  art  thou  wroth?  And  why  is  thy  counte- 
nance fallen?  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be 
accepted?"  or  in  other  words,  if  you  are  not  a  sinner 
you  and  your  offering  would  be  accepted.  "And  if 
thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door,"  or  in  words 
more  apt,  if  you  are  a  sinner,  the  sin  offering  croucheth 
at  the  door.  Sin  needs  a  sin  offering.  His  rejection 
by  the  Lord  proved  him  a  sinner.  If  a  sinner,  then 
the  sin  offering.  So  far  the  best  authorities  are  agreed. 
The  remaining  sentence  does  not  seem  to  fit  and  gives 
trouble.  "And  unto  thee  his  desire  ('shall  be'  is  not  in 
the  original)  and  thou  shalt  rule  over  him."  This  is 
certainly  a  mistranslation,  for  the  pronouns  "his"  and 
"him"  have  no  possible  reference  to  Abel  who  is  not 
mentioned  in  this  rebuke  and  expostulation.  The  pro- 
nouns can  only  refer  to  the  sin  offering  mentioned  just 
before.  We  are  then  shut  in  to  this  rendering,  "and  to 
thee  the  need  of  it" — That  is  what  you  need — "and  by 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  15 

it  thou  shalt  prevail."  This  certainly  comports  with 
and  emphasizes  the  previous  part  of  the  rebuke,  and 
opens  wide  the  door  to  embrace  the  truth  and  still  be 
saved  from  a  final  rejection.  It  is  the  offer  of  mercy 
through  the  proper  sin  offering.  This  only  drove  him 
to  fury  and  he  rose  up  and  slew  his  brother — the  first 
martyr  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  the  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

Cain  and  Abel  and  their  respective  adherents  are 
typical  classes  in  all  ages — Pelagians  in  the  early  cen- 
turies, and  Socinians  and  Unitarians  in  our  day — as 
against  those  who  believe  in  the  vicarious  atonement 
of  Christ,  and  who  teach  that  he  is  our  penal  substitute. 
The  necessity  of  atonement  by  blood  is  as  urgent  to- 
day as  when  it  was  decided  in  the  beginning. 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Earliest  Civilization. 

The  modern  doctrine  of  evolution  has  invented  and 
popularized  the  notion  of  the  "Primeval  Savage." 
They  have  taught  that  the  progenitors  of  the  human 
race  were  but  a  small  remove  from  the  anthropoid  ape 
or  from  some  other  form  of  animal  life,  from  which 
they  descended  according  to  some  unknown  law.  Also 
that  the  race  improved  gradually  by  a  development 
analogous  to  the  development  and  growth  of  the  indi- 
vidual from  ignorant  infancy  to  mature  manhood  and 
that  all  civilization  has  been  involved  from  ancestors  so 
low  in  the  scale  of  intelligence  and  morals  as  to  deserve 
the  name  "Primeval  Savage,"  far  below  anything  that 
we  now  find  in  uncivilized  and  savage  life. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  science  has  confessedly  failed 
to  prove  any  such  doctrine.  We  may  therefore  dismiss 
this  hypothesis  and  §eek  the  evidence  of  the  origin  of 
the  race  and  the  laws  of  racial  development  in  such 
directions  as  may  be  open  to  us.  This  is  the  only 
scientific  method. 

History  notes  both  progress  and  retrogression  of  the 
race.  The  former  is  more  patent  to  us  from  our  point 
of  view.  The  present  highest  civilizations  of  the 
world  have  certainly  sprung  out  of  humbler  origins. 
Norsemen  and  Druids  are  found  in  the  beginning  of 
English  history  and  civilization.  All  the  steps  in  the 
upward  progress  are  recorded  in  well  authenticated 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  17 

history,  and  this  growth  is  the  pride  of  all  English 
speaking  peoples. 

The  culture  and  civilization  of  France  has  grown  up 
on  the  semi-barbarous  Gauls  of  Caesar's  day.  The 
Goths  and  Vandals  and  Huns,  who  overran  and  de- 
stroyed the  Roman  empire,  gradually  learned  the  arts 
and  the  culture  of  civilized  life,  and  to-day  represent 
much  that  is  best  in  the  civilization  of  modern  Europe, 

Rome  and  Greece  with  all  their  glories  of  literature 
and  art  certainly  date  back  to  robber  chieftains,  or  to 
barbaric  tribes.  And  so  we  might  multiply  illustra- 
tions of  progression ;  and  quite  a  broad,  but  a  partial, 
induction  would  seem  to  teach  that  this  is  the  law  of 
race  development. 

But  history  also  tells  of  retrogression.  The  de- 
scendants of  the  ancient  Egyptians  are  a  besotted  peo- 
ple who  know  nothing  and  care  nothing  for  the  glories 
of  the  Pharaohs,  and  so  with  the  present  representa- 
tives of  various  old  civilizations ;  so  that  some,  regard- 
ing such  cases,  find  another  law,  drawn  likewise  from 
a  partial  induction,  that  the  law  of  all  civilization  is  to 
rise,  culminate,  and  then  decline  till  it  reaches  the  low- 
est levels. 

We  need  not  expect  history  to  furnish  such  evi- 
dence of  retrogression  as  of  progression  because  a  sav- 
age people  has  lost  its  history,  caring  nothing  for  it; 
and  even  its  traditions  hardly  rise  above  its  low  level ; 
while  the  very  reverse  is  true  of  a  rising  people.  En- 
vironment has  much  to  do  with  the  progression  or  re- 
trogression of  a  people.  Influences  from  the  outside 
and  conditions  on  the  inside  often  determine  an  up- 
ward or  a  downward  career.  Rigorous  climates  and  in- 
hospitable regions  sometimes  make  living  so  difficult 
that  there  is  no  leisure  for  anything  else,  and  people 


1 8  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

sink  to  a  corresponding  barbaric  or  savage  condition. 
Misgovernment  and  oppression  sometimes  produce  the 
same  result;  so  also  wars  and  subjugations. 

Our  conclusion  is  that  progression  and  retrogression 
are  the  opposite  poles  of  the  same  more  general  law 
that  a  large  number  of  varied  and  varying  and  often 
diverse  forces  are  at  work  to  make  or  mar  the  destinies 
of  any  and  every  people. 

Comparative  philology  sometimes  assists  in  tracing 
the  origin  of  the  most  degenerate  races.  We  are  told 
of  a  most  debased  people  in  Ceylon  called  Weddas, 
nearly  extinct — debased  physically  and  intellectually — 
barely  five  feet  in  height — having  a  very  limited 
memory  living  in  the  rudest  huts  and  barely  subsisting 
with  bow  and  arrow.  Their  language  has  but  two  or 
three  hundred  words,  with  only  two  or  three  numerals 
for  counting.  Yet  their  language  is  a  degenerate 
Sanscrit.  Their  ancestors  must  have  once  shared  in 
the  highest  Aryan  civilization  of  remote  antiquity. 

Nearly  all  peoples  whose  origins  date  far  back  have 
their  traditions  of  a  "Golden  Age."  We  find  it  in  the 
Zendavesta,  the  sacred  books  of  the  Magians  which 
were  written  centuries  before  Christ.  The  Greeks,  the 
Chinese,  the  Mexicans,  and  the  Peruvians  have  similar 
traditions  of  their  origins  in  a  golden  age.  Were  a 
pagan  to  describe  what  Christians  call  the  promised 
Millennium  he  could  hardly  improve  on  Hesiod's  im- 
mortal description  of  the  Golden  Age  in  which  the 
Greeks  believed. 

A  consensus  of  traditions  like  the  traditions  of  the 
Flood  is  valuable  for  confirmation ;  and  while  details 
may  be  wholly  unreliable  their  testimony  to  underly- 
ing facts  is  not  to  be  despised  by  the  student  of  his- 
tory.    So  here ;  this  general  tradition  of  a  golden  age 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  19 

in  remote  antiquity  must  be  accepted  as  true  in  its 
essence,  though  it  be  dressed  in  varied  and  sometimes 
fantastic  garb.  If  we  could  find  an  authentic  history 
of  such  an  age,  it  would  reduce  all  the  variant  tradi- 
tions to  coherency. 

The  Bible  is  the  only  book  that  treats  of  the  origin 
of  the  human  race.  We  accept  the  statements  of 
Genesis  as  genuine  and  authentic  history.  It  is  far 
briefer  than  we  might  desire,  but  the  facts  are  unmis- 
takable and  the  coloring  of  the  picture  is  vivid. 

Without  stopping  to  define  civilization  as  distin- 
guished from  savagery,  or  from  several  intermediate 
grades  between  the  two,  we  shall  proceed  to  note  the 
features  found  in  Genesis.  When  we  have  found  the 
intellectual,  moral,  religious,  social,  industrial,  and 
constitutional  conditions  of  the  first  generation,  we 
shall  find  no  difficulty  in  locating  them  in  the  scale  of 
humanity. 

1.  Man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God.  This  was 
not  a  bodily  likeness,  but  was  a  spiritual  likeness.  He 
was  like  God  in  "knowledge,  righteousness  and  true 
holiness."  These  three  are  correlative  to  each  other 
They  can  not  subsist  separately  from  each  other.  The 
likeness  was  perfect  and  complete  except  that  man  is 
finite  and  God  is  infinite.  Man  was  no  inchoate  moral 
being,  with  germinal  qualities  to  be  developed  into  a 
moral  and  responsible  being,  but  he  was  of  the  full 
stature  of  a  complete  manhood,  intelligent  in  mind, 
holy  in  disposition,  and  righteous  in  action.  So  much 
for  his  mental  and  moral  constitution. 

2.  He  had  dominion  over  creatures.  This  required 
wisdom,  tact,  and  skill.  Much  of  this  has  been  lost. 
The  Weddas  have  only  one  domesticated  animal,  the 


20'  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

dog,  so  low  have  they  sunk  below  the  God-g^ven  perog- 
ative  of  their  ancestors. 

3.  Primeval  man  started  life  in  the  family  which 
had  a  constitution  so  fixed  and  imperative,  that  all 
human  institutions  have  grown  out  of  it,  or  else  cluster 
about  it.  From  the  beginning  a  man  left  father  and 
mother  and  clave  unto  his  wife  and  the  "twain  were 
one  flesh."  There  was  no  divorce  from  the  beginning, 
but  when  family  life  decayed  divorce  was  allowed  for 
infidelity  in  this  sacred  and  holy  relation. 

4.  Adam  was  no  mean  scientist.  He  "gave  names 
to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every 
beast  of  the  field."  "And  whatsoever  Adam  called 
every  living  creature  that  was  the  name  thereof."  This 
he  did  in  no  haphazard  way,  for  the  early  recorded 
names  of  animals  have  meanings  expressive  of  their 
characteristics. 

The  same  was  doubtless  true  of  all  plant  life  that 
came  under  his  observation.  We  infer  this  from  the 
references  to  the  trees  of  the  garden,  to  thorns  and 
briars,  to  herb  bearing  seed  after  his  kind,  and  fruits 
after  their  kind. 

5.  His  personal  and  face  to  face  converse  with  God 
gave  him  the  greatest  possibilities  both  before  and 
after  the  sin  of  eating  the  forbidden  fruit.  The  Lord 
was  his  teacher,  presumably  on  all  subjects  from  coat- 
making  to  the  plan  of  salvation.  And  besides,  under 
the  patriarchal  system,  which  dates  back  to  the  begin- 
ning, every  patriarch  was  the  priest  of  his  home  and  as 
such  had  access  to  the  oracle. 

6.  The  first  generation  cultivated  the  soil  and  kept 
flocks  and  herds.  Cain  tilled  the  ground  and  Abel  was 
a  keeper  of  sheep.     Agriculture  and  stock  raising  are 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  21 

not  the  pursuits  of  savages.  Adam  and  Eve  were 
placed  in  the  garden  to  dress  and  to  keep  it.  And 
when  the  curse  was  pronounced  thorns  and  briars  and 
failure  were  doomed  to  mar  the  tillage.  So  also  when 
Cain  was  cursed.  Tillage  was  the  first  ordained  pur- 
suit of  the  race.  Cattle  were  ancillary  to  it  and  de- 
pendent on  it  as  it  is  to-day. 

7.  They  lived  in  houses  and  even  in  cities  as  men 
multiplied  on  the  earth.  "And  Cain  went  out  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod." 
"And  he  builded  a  city,  and  he  called  the  name  of  the 
city  after  the  name  of  his  son  Enoch." 

8.  Our  first  parents  had  a  language  adequate  for 
their  uses  in  their  social  and  religious  life,  and  also  for 
scientific  and  industrial  purposes.  This  language  was 
possibly  taught  to  man  by  his  divine  teacher.  More 
probably  he  got  it  by  inspiration,  as  when  they  were 
inspired  to  speak  with  tongues  at  Pentecost.  If  he  in- 
vented the  language,  as  some  think,  this  only  exalts 
our  opinion  of  his  mental  resources,  for  the  earliest 
languages  are  the  most  scientific. 

9.  Their  religious  condition  required  them  to  under- 
stand and  discuss  the  profoundest  doctrines  of  revela- 
tion, such  as  Deity,  providence,  responsibility,  sin, 
judgment,  atonement  for  sin,  acceptance  with  God,  thr. 
divine  curse. 

All  these  things  together  indicate  a  modest,  real, 
and  substantial  civilization.  The  highest  and  best 
civilization  is  that  of  the  head  and  the  heart.  The 
simplicity  or  the  complexity  of  the  material  and  aesthe- 
tic sides  of  civilization  varies  widely  and  cannot  be 
accepted  as  its  sole  measure,  or  its  most  valuable  feat- 
ure. A  mistake  is  too  often  made  here.  The  voluptu- 
ous luxury  of  the  oriental  harem,  and  the  aesthetic  cult 


22  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

of  Venus  at  Athens  pointed  downward,  while  the  simple 
life  of  the  Scotch  crofter  and  the  Huguenot  peasant 
pointed  upward.  It  has  often  happened  that  the  highest 
material  civilization  has  been  a  godless  civilization. 
We  shall  perhaps  see  this  illustrated  in  the  deteriora- 
tion of  the  race,  which  came  most  rapidly  among  the 
descendants  of  Cain  and  finally  overtook  the  whole 
antediluvian  world. 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Deterioration  of  the  Race. 

Cain  and  his  adherents  "went  out  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,"  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east 
of  Eden.  The  phrase  "presence  of  the  Lord"  and  its 
exact  equivalents  "before  the  Lord"  and  "before  the 
face  of  the  Lord,"  are  used  in  the  Old  Testament  to  in- 
dicate the  place  of  worship  or  the  shrine  where  the  Lord 
revealed  himself  to  the  worshippers  both  by  oracles 
and  with  visible  manifestations  of  his  presence.  It 
was  the  rallying  place  and  the  centre  of  the  religious 
life  of  the  people.  Cain  left  this  place,  partly  as  an 
apostate  from  the  true  faith,  and  partly  as  a  fugitive 
and  a  voluntary  exile.  He  left  the  oracle  behind  him 
and  surrendered  the  high  priviledge  of  having  the 
Lord  as  his  teacher  and  friend  ready  to  guide  him  in  all 
important  matters.  We  might  therefore  expect  the 
effects  of  sin  to  manifest  themselves  more  rapidly 
among  his  descendants,  and  also  to  find  the  central 
forces  of  the  antediluvian  apostasy  among  them. 

In  the  fourth  generation  Lamech  took  two  wives. 
So  far  as  we  know,  this  was  the  origin  of  polygamy  and 
the  consequent  wreckage  of  the  family.  One  woman 
was  made  for  one  man  that  there  might  be  a  godly 
seed.  Mai.  ii.  15.  Polygamy  in  later  times  has  been 
a  murderous  system.  It  was  so  then,  for  Lamech 
made  defiant  proclamation  to  his  wives,  Adah  and 
Zillah,  that  he  had  slain  a  young  man  for  wounding  and 
injuring  him,   and   declared   his   determination   to  be 


24  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

avenged  seventy  fold  in  such  a  case.  It  is  generally 
supposed  that  it  was  an  insane  jealously  over  real  or 
fancied  wrongs  in  this  double  family  relation.  Poly- 
gamy and  murder  have  been  intimately  associated  all 
the  way  down  the  ages  to  Mormonism  of  our  times. 
All  this  indicates  a  great  apostasy  and  departure  from 
the  righteousness  and  true  holiness  in  which  man  was 
first  created. 

We  may  also  note  certain  modifications  of  the 
original  civilization  in  this  family. 

1.  "Adah  bare  Jabal ;  and  he  was  the  father  of  such 
as  dwell  in  tents,  and  of  such  as  have  cattle."  This  was 
a  departure  from  tillage  and  from  permanent  homes 
into  nomadic  life,  semi-barbarous,  and  then  barbarous. 

2.  And  his  brother's  name  was  Jabal :  he  was  the 
father  of  such  as  handle  the  harp  and  organ  (or  pipe)." 
This  is  evidently  a  higher  aesthetic  culture,  adding 
zest  to  the  dissipations  of  town  and  city  life,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  adding  fascination  to  the  rollicking  leis- 
ure of  nomadic  life,  on  the  other. 

3.  "And  Zillah,  she  also  bare  Tubal-Cain,  an  in- 
structor of  every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron."  This  in- 
dicates a  higher  material  civilization  in  this  branch  ot 
the  family.  There  has  always  been  a  self  sufficiency 
in  a  high  material  civilization  which  tends  to  atheism. 

Solomon's  experience  illustrates  the  corrupting  in- 
fluences of  riches,  luxury  and  culture  apart  from  godli- 
ness. Athens  in  her  later  glories,  and  Daphne's 
shameless  voluptuousness,  and  the  Epicureanism  of 
Rome  in  the  days  of  the  senatorial  party,  indicate  the 
corruptions  and  vices  of  a  mere  aesthetic  and  material 
civilization.     We  need  no  pessimism  to  trace  the  in- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  25 

fluences  of  the  material  civilization  of  the  present  day 
on  the  social,  moral,  and  religious  life. 

The  separation  was  social,  religious  and  national. 
The  two  parties  lived  each  in  its  own  land  or  country. 
The  Providential  intent  was  to  preserve  the  true  reli- 
gion against  the  corrupting  influences  of  Cain's  apos- 
tate party.  They  grew  into  two  distinct  peoples,  each 
with  its  own  type  of  civil  and  social  life.  The  separa- 
tion in  geographical  location  prevented  any  close  con- 
tact, for  a  while  at  least. 

The  righteous,  or  orthodox  people  were  called  the 
"sons  of  God."  The  wicked,  or  apostate  people  were 
called  "sons  of  men,"  and  sometimes  "men ;"  and  their 
daughters  were  called  the  "daughters  of  men."  The 
one  stood  for  the  glory  of  God,  the  other,  for  the  glory 
of  men.  The  civilization,  the  religion  and  the  philoso- 
phy of  Cain's  people  was  at  best  a  proud  humanitarian - 
ism.  Seth  became  the  patriarchal  head  of  his  people 
in  the  place  of  Cain  who  had  forfeited  his  birthright  by 
apostasy,  murder  and  voluntary  exile.  In  the  days  of 
Enos,  the  "son  of  Seth,"  men  began  to  call  themselves 
by  the  name  of  the  Lord."  This  is  the  marginal  render- 
ing of  Gen.  iv.  26,  and  would  seem  to  be  correct.  Per- 
haps at  this  time,  Enoch,  the  son  of  Cain  and  the  con- 
temporary of  Enos  proclaimed  himself  and  his  people 
the  "sons  of  men"  in  proud  defiance.  However  this  may 
be,  the  righteous  are  called  "sons  of  God"  both  in  the 
Old  Testament  and  in  the  New.  The  other  name,  "sons 
of  men,"  is  not  so  current  after  the  flood,  perhaps,  be- 
cause that  particular  form  of  apostasy  was  destroyed 
neveragaintoappear  in  the  same  dress  and  name.  Here- 
sies refuted  by  the  logic  of  events,  or  better,  suicidal 
heresies  have  no  resurrection  after  they  have  perished. 
This  may  be  abundanly  illustrated  from  history.     Sin 


26  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

and  Satan  may  and  do  try  similar  inventions,  but  not 
the  same,  after  failure  and  exposure,  just  as  an  enemy, 
when  driven  from  one  stronghold,  or  beaten  on  one 
battle  field  seeks  to  make  a  stand  on  another.  For  the 
usage  of  the  term,  "sons  of  God"  we  may  quote,  Jno.  i. 
12;  Gen  vi.  i,  2;  i  Jno.  iii.  i,  2;  and  other  places. 

The  mischief  began  with  the  intermarriage  of  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked.  Gen.  vi.  i,  2,  "And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  men  began  to  multiply  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  daughters  were  born  unto  them,  that  the  sons 
of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men  that  they  were  fair; 
and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  which  they  chose." 
Some  imagine  that  this  was  a  misalliance  of  angels  and 
women,  as  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  because  the 
term  "sons  of  God"  is  used  twice  for  angels  in  the  Old 
Testament. 

If  this  were  a  mere  mythological  story  like  some 
stories  of  the  heathen  such  an  exegesis  might  be  al- 
lowed, for  it  would  make  little  difference.  But  we  dis- 
miss it  as  unworthy  of  further  notice  because  we  con- 
sider this  authentic  history  and  there  are  no  real  diffi- 
culties in  the  exegesis,  nor  in  the  definition  and  identi- 
fication of  all  the  parties. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  these  daughters  of  men 
with  their  aesthetic  culture,  and  meretricious  adorn- 
ments produced  a  fascination  similar  to  the  abandoned 
daughters  of  Zion  in  Isaiah's  day.  Is.  iii.  16-23 ;  and  as 
so  often  happens  to-day ;  while  the  modest  adornment 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit  was  undervalued  and  neg- 
lected. 

These  marriages  introduced  apostasy  into  the 
family  life  of  the  righteous,  to  eat  like  a  canker  and  to 
destroy  holiness  at  the  fountain.  They  led  also  to  con- 
flict   of    personal    ambitions    and    national    interests. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  2^ 

Then  came  wars  and  violence,  and  the  sons  of  these 
marriages  became  mighty  men  and  men  of  renown, 
great  military  heroes,  until  the  earth  was  "corrupt  be- 
fore God"  and  the  earth  was  filled  with  violence." 
"And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great 
in  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts 
of  his  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  It  were  easy 
to  fill  up  the  picture  of  famine,  and  pestilence,  and  op- 
pression, and  brutality  during  the  closing  centuries  of 
the  antediluvian  period  until  actual  barbarism  and 
savagery  superseded  all  that  was  good  in  the  golden 
age  of  the  beginning. 

It  became  necessary  to  destroy  the  degenerate  race 
except  Noah  and  his  family.  He  alone  remained,  "A 
preacher  of  righteousness,"  "A  just  man,  perfect  in  his 
generations,"  "He  walked  with  God."  With  this  one 
exception  the  righteous  were  all  extinct  by  deteriora- 
tion and  other  causes.  The  history  of  this  retrogres- 
sion is  brief,  but  its  lessons  are  unmistakable  and  en- 
during. We  talk  about  the  philosophy  of  history,  but 
there  is  no  real  philosophy  of  history  that  leaves  out 
God.  Among  the  second  causes  that  elevate  or  de- 
grade the  nations,  good  and  evil  are  the  supreme  forces, 
for  "righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  re- 
proach to  any  people." 

The  most  degenerate  races  are  the  farthest  away 
from  God  and  their  minds  and  hearts  are  besotted  with 
sin.  Why  then  has  paganism  sometimes  produced 
such  marvels  of  civilization,  albeit  their  civilizations 
have  been  one  sided?  The  answer  is  easy.  False  re- 
ligions have  in  them  some  good  elements  that  bear  ex- 
cellent fruits.  While  they  cannot  save  the  soul  they 
conserve  the  family  and  tone  up  social  forces  in  many 
cases.     They  lay  great  stress  on  the  heroic,  natural 


28  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

virtues,  and  are  often  a  bulwark  to  the  state.  This 
was  true  of  many  nations  of  antiquity  Hke  ancient 
Greece  or  Rome.  But  when  the  fear  of  their  gods 
loses  its  hold  on  the  faith  of  the  people  the  downward 
career  is  rapid.  For  nations  and  peoples  false  gods  are 
far  better  than  none. 

Then  again,  the  highest  and  best  civilizations  of 
earth  have  been  and  are  based  on  the  fear  of  the  true 
God,  and  faith  in  his  Son,  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures. 
This  is  the  supreme  law,  however  much  other  forces 
may  work  in  connection  with  it. 

The  intermarriage  of  the  godly  and  the  godless  was 
a  leading  cause  of  the  ultimate  ruin  of  the  race  before 
the  Flood.  Providential  indications  would  seem  to  be 
that  such  marriages  were  forbidden  then.  However 
this  may  be,  such  marriages  were  forbidden  to  Abra- 
ham and  to  the  patriarchs,  and  then  again  definitely  in 
the  Mosaic  economy.  Exodus  xxxiv.  15,  16;  Deut.  vii. 
3,  4.  "Neither  shalt  thou  make  marriages  with  them ; 
Thy  daughter  shalt  thou  not  give  to  his  son,  nor  his 
daughter  shalt  thou  take  to  thy  son.  For  they 
will  turn  away  thy  son  from  following  me,  that  they 
may  serve  other  gods ;  So  will  the  anger  of  the  Lord  be 
kindled  against  thee  and  destroy  thee  suddenly." 

Disasters  always  attended  such  marriages.  The 
case  of  Solomon  is  in  point,  i  Kings  xi.  1-13.  The 
story  is  familiar.  The  division  of  his  kingdom  and  its 
final  decay  and  ruin  started  just  here.  The  case  of 
Ahab  also  is  in  point,  i  Kings  xvi.  30-33,  "He  did 
evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  above  all  that  were  before 
him."  "He  took  to  wife  Jezebel,"  the  typical  bad 
woman  of  the  Bible.  "He  went  and  served  Baal." 
The  final  apostasy  and  overthrow  of  his  kingdom  be- 
cran  here. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  29 

Such  marriages  are  still  forbidden  if  Paul  is  right. 
I  Cor.  vii.  39,  "She  is  at  liberty  to  marry  whom  she 
will;  only  in  the  Lord."  2  Cor.  vi.  14,  "Be  ye  not  un- 
equally yoked  with  unbelievers ;  for  what  fellowship 
hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness?  and  what 
communion  hath  light  with  darkness?"  There  are  ap- 
parent limitations,  i  Cor.  vii.  10-17,  but  only  apparent. 
He  is  not  discussing  here  the  right  to  marry  an  unbe- 
liever but  he  shows  that  there  is  no  reason  for  divorce 
when  either  the  husband  or  wife  becomes  a  believer. 

The  logic  of  experience  vindicates  the  rule  that  for- 
bids such  marriages.  They  either  mar  the  religious 
life  or  bring  untold  sorrow  to  the  believer  who  makes 
such  a  marriage.  Marriages  contracted  in  hope  of  re- 
forming a  sinner  are  quixotic  and  suicidal.  A  man  will 
seldom  marry  a  bad  woman  to  reform  her ;  but  many  a 
woman  har  been  beguiled  into  marrying  a  rake  or  a 
drinking  man  in  the  vain  hope  of  making  him  worthy 
of  her  love  and  confidence. 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Unity  of  the  Human  Race. 

The  distinction  of  man  and  beast  is  found  in  all  lan- 
guages and  among  all  peoples.  There  is  in  all  living 
species  an  instinctive  recognition  of  race  distinctions; 
and  natural  ties  of  blood  and  kinship  are  so  potent  that 
they  are  classed  among  Nature's  forces. 

The  flocking  and  mating  of  birds,  herds  of  grega- 
rious beasts,  schools  of  fishes  of  the  seas,  the  more 
solitary  lion,  mate  and  cubs,  each  and  all  within  the 
limits  of  their  kind,  do  amply  illustrate  these  instinctive 
forces.  Swarms  of  locusts,  gnats,  and  musquitoes  il- 
lustrate the  same  law,  and  so  on  through  all  animateci 
nature. 

If  these  things  are  true  of  all  the  lower  creation 
which  have  only  instinct  to  guide  their  affiliations  how 
much  more  may  we  expect  to  find  race  recognition  in 
man  whose  instinct  is  reinforced  by  his  intelligence. 
An  inerrant  common  sense  recognizes  the  kinship  of 
man  to  man.  A  science  "falsely  so  called"  has  sought 
to  find  man's  origin  in  the  lower  animals  but  is  com- 
pelled to  take  refuge  in  transmutation  of  species  in 
order  not  to  stultify  this  inerrant  common  sense. 

Some  have  held  that  there  are  a  number  of  different 
races  of  men,  distinct  from  each  other  in  origin  and  in 
racial  characteristics,  distinct  creations,  but  not  dis- 
tinct species.  The  advocates  of  this  theory  have  held 
that  the  several  types  in  these  so  called  races  could 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  31 

not  possibly  have  descended  from  a  common  parentage. 
Their  arguments  are  derived  from  physical  variations. 
This  theory  has  now  been  abandoned,  but  some  locate 
a  common  parentage  ages  upon  ages  ago  in  order  tD 
give  time  for  originating  and  fixing  the  types  as  now 
found  in  the  eight  races  of  men.  Their  efforts  have 
been  and  are  still  untiring  to  find  traces  of  man  on 
earth  far  back  in  the  geologic  ages.  Their  so  called 
facts  have  failed  and  their  theories  are  in  a  case  of 
hopeless  collapse. 

No  one  will  deny  that  God  might  have  created  man 
in  swarms  as  he  did  the  fish  of  the  sea,  or  the  fruit  trees 
of  the  earth,  or  the  beasts  of  the  field  ;  or  he  might  have 
impressed  different  types  on  separate  groups  as  he 
created  them ;  or  he  might  have  started  the  race  ages 
on  ages  ago  if  he  had  only  seen  fit  to  do  so.  And  we 
would  have  been  able  to  construct  and  elaborate  any 
theory  of  creation  to  which  present  facts  and  conditions 
might  seem  to  point,  if  God  himself  had  not  seen  fit  to 
tell  us  the  story  of  creation. 

When  we  speak  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race  we 
mean  that  all  the  nations  and  kindreds  and  peoples 
under  heaven  have  a  common  origin  and  are  descended 
from  a  common  parentage.  Is  this  the  Bible  doctrine? 
The  Scriptures  everywhere  assume  it  and  sometimes 
assert  it.  Acts  xvii.  26.  Paul  tells  us  that  "God  made 
the  world  and  all  things  therein,"  and  "hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth."  We  need  then  only  to  glance  at  the 
story  of  creation  to  confirm  this  statement.  We  have 
a  summary  of  creation  in  the  Fourth  Commandment 
and  in  many  other  places  in  the  Scriptures  in  varied 
forms  of  statement. 

We  have  the  entire  story  in  the  first  and  second 


32  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

chapters  of  Genesis.  We  are  now  concerned  with  the 
creation  of  man  only,  except  to  say  that  of  living  things 
created  after  their  kind,  the  human  race  alone  owes  its 
origin  to  a  single  created  pair. 

In  the  first  chapter  we  have  a  succinct  and  complete 
story  of  the  creation  in  six  days  and  the  Divine  bless- 
ing on  all.  In  the  second  chapter  we  find  a  number  of 
supplemental  details  necessary  to  be  revealed.  But  if 
they  had  been  woven  into  the  creation  story  of  the  first 
chapter  it  would  have  marred  its  symmetry  and  sim- 
plicity. 

Now  man  only  of  living  creatures  has  two  part?, 
body  and  soul.  The  body  is  material,  the  soul  is  pure 
spirit.  The  two  are  united  in  this  life.  At  death  the 
spirit  is  disembodied,  and  the  body  returns  to  dust  until 
the  resurrection.  The  spirit,  therefore,  is  the  real  man 
capable  of  a  separate  existence  and  endowed  with  aH 
his  God-given  powers,  faculties,  and  capacities  in  full 
exercise  in  that  separate  existence.  Christ  cited  this 
known  and  accepted  fact  when  he  confronted  the  Sad- 
ducees.  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  living  persons 
to-day,  though  their  bodies  lie  in  their  graves. 

Now  it  would  not  be  difficult  nor  impertinent  to 
suppose  that  the  creation  of  man's  spirit  and  the  crea- 
tion of  his  body  were  two  distinct  creative  acts,  how- 
ever closely  related  in  time.  Now  this  is  exactly  what 
we  find  in  the  account  of  creation.  In  chapter  i.  we  read 
that  God  created  man,  male  and  female,  in  his  own 
image  and  likeness,  "in  knowledge,  righteous  and  true 
holiness  with  dominion  over  the  creatures."  The 
"image  and  likeness"  are  necessarily  spiritual,  for  God 
is  a  spirit.  The  distinctions  of  sex  are  rooted  in  the 
spirit  and  not  in  the  physical  and  nervous  organization 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  33 

of  the  body,  but  on  the  contrary  each  body  was  adjust- 
ed to  the  spirit  that  should  occupy  it. 

These  things  are  more  obvious  when  we  note  that 
in  chapter  ii.  we  have  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the 
body  of  Adam  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  the 
communication  of  animal  life.  Genesis  ii.  7 ;  "The  Lord 
formed  man  (his  body)  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  (animal 
life)  and  he  became  a  living  soul."  The  two  Hebrev.' 
words,  "Nephesh  Hayyah"  here  translated  "living 
soul"  are  used  in  Gen.  i.  21 ;  to  describe  all  sea  animals, 
great  and  small ;  so  also  in  Gen.  i.  24  they  are  used  to 
describe  all  land  animals,  great  and  small,  and  they  are 
translated  "living  creatures"  in  both  places.  Man 
therefore  became  a  "living  creature"  in  the  same  sense. 
We  may  remark  that  the  terms  Nephesh,  Psuche,  and 
soul  sometimes  mean  the  animal  life  and  sometimes  the 
spirit,  to  be  determined  by  the  context  or  prescriptive 
usage. 

Then  God  "builded"  Eve's  body  on  the  rib  taken 
from  the  man's  side.  In  Eve's  case  we  find  a  more 
appreciable  difference  of  time  between  the  creation  of 
herself  (the  spirit)  and  the  creation  of  her  body. 

There  is  no  need  here  to  trace  the  fortunes  of  the 
race  descended  from  this  pair,  down  to  the  flood.  Here 
again  was  the  race  propagated  from  a  single  pair  and 
their  three  sons,  whose  three  wives  may  or  may  not 
have  lapped  over  into  other  families  than  that  of  Noah, 

In  Gen.  ix.  i,  19  we  read,  "God  blessed  Noah  and 
his  sons,  and  said  unto  them,  be  fruitful,  and  multiply, 
and  replenish  the  earth ;"  "these  are  the  three  sons  of 
Noah ;  and  of  them  was  the  whole  world  overspread." 
In  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  we  have  a  tabulation  of 
the  nations  of  the  earth  in  Moses'  day,  and  it  is  not  diffi- 


34  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

cult  to  trace  the  most  of  them  down  to  the  present 
time.  Moses  adds  (verse  32)  "These  are  the  families 
of  the  sons  of  Noah  after  their  generations,  in  their 
nations ;  and  by  these  were  the  nations  divided  after 
the  flood." 

The  history  of  man  as  found  in  the  later  Scriptures 
signifies  but  little  if  the  doctrine  of  his  unity  be  not 
true ;  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  for  example,  and  the 
historic  unfolding  of  it.  In  fact  all  subsequent  Bible 
history  and  doctrine  revolves  about  this  covenant. 
This  unity  is  necessary  to  the  coherency  of  all  Scrip- 
ture, and  to  the  pertinency  of  all  doctrine.  The  great 
commission  implies  it,  Luke  xxiv.  47.  Paul's  parallel 
of  Adam  and  Christ  means  nothing  if  it  be  not  true. 
Rom.  V.  12-21. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  cite  the  surface  evidences  of 
the  unity  of  the  race  as  found  on  the  spiritual  side. 
The  biologist,  perhaps,  would  feel  more  interest  in 
tracing  the  unity  on  the  physical  side.  We  cite  those 
only  which  are  obvious,  essential,  and  distinctive  of 
the  Genus  Homo. 

1.  His  mental  and  intellectual  qualities  and  habi- 
tudes are  unique  and  universal.  These  cannot  be  con- 
founded with  brute  instinct,  even  though  it  seems 
sometimes  to  approximate  the  processes  of  human  rea- 
son. All  his  mental  powers  and  faculties  are  found 
everywhere. 

2.  His  sensibilities  are  everywhere  the  same — the 
emotional  nature  and  its  manifestations,  the  same — the 
same  joys,  sorrows,  hopes,  and  fears — the  same  im- 
pulses and  desires — these  all  vary  in  degree  and  mani- 
festation, but  not  in  essence. 

3.  The  laws  of  his  activity,  determined  by  his  dis- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  35 

positions,  choice  and  motive,  are  everywhere  the  same. 
The  relations  of  intellect,  sensibilities,  choice  and  voli- 
tions are  the  same.  There  is  but  one  psychology  for 
all,  and  the  data  of  consciousness  are  original,  neces- 
sary and  universal. 

4.  His  moral  nature  is  supreme  in  dignity  and  im- 
portance. Conscience  sits  supreme  as  the  regulative  fa- 
culty, whether  man  gives  heed  or  not.  So  teaches  Paul 
in  Rom.  ii.  14,  15.  In  Prov.  xxvii.  19  we  read,  "as  in 
water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man  to 
man."  Law  and  its  sanctions  are  universal  and  a  sense 
of  obligation  is  basic  in  all  human  institutions.  We 
might  well  rest  our  case  here.  These  four  essential 
points  of  likeness  do  in  a  sense  cover  the  whole  ground. 
We  may  popularize  the  argument  by  further  citations. 

5.  Man's  religious  nature  is  universal.  Some  one 
has  defined  man  as  a  religious  animal.  This  religious 
nature,  though  perverted,  is  universal  and  distinguish- 
ing. Religion  recognizes  supernatural  beings  and 
agencies,  either  real  or  imaginary,  or  the  product  of 
ignorance  and  superstition.  It  seeks  to  propitiate  its 
god  or  gods  by  worship  or  sacrifice,  by  vows,  by  self- 
abnegation  and  in  many  other  ways.  Some  tribes  and 
peoples  have  sunk  so  low  that  careless  observers  have 
said  that  they  are  destitute  of  the  religious  idea ;  but 
more  careful  investigators  have  reported  even  there  the 
lowest  forms  of  fetishism  and  the  basest  superstitious 
practices.     Compare  Rom.  i.  20-23. 

6.  Articulate  language  and  its  universal  laws  per- 
vade the  race.  Students  of  philology  tell  us  that  there 
is  a  kinship  among  languages  which  indicates  commu* 
nity  of  origin,  and  which  points  back  to  the  time  when 
the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  of  one  speech. 


36  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Gen.  xi.  i.  They  say  that  the  language  of  the  degene- 
rate and  besotted  Weddas  of  Ceylon,  who  have  not 
more  than  200  vocables,  and  can  count  only  three,  is  a 
residuum  of  the  ancient  Sanscrit.  Philologists  also  tell 
us  that  many  languages  dating  far  back  in  the  ages 
have  been  modified  by  contact,  commerce,  and  con- 
quest, as  well  as  by  internal  forces  incident  to  culture 
and  transmission.  In  this  way  the  sciences  of  phil- 
ology and  history  reinforce  each  other. 

7.  The  law  of  man's  social  and  civil  life  are  unvary- 
ing in  their  essential  details.  There  is  a  kinship 
among  the  institutions  of  different  peoples  that  can 
mean  but  one  thing.  The  family  is  the  primordial  unit 
of  all.  Government  in  all  is  based  on  the  correlatives, 
authority  and  obedience.  Merit  and  demerit,  reward 
and  punishment  are  fundamental  ideas  and  are  predom- 
inant among  all  peoples.  Substantially  the  same  con- 
servative forces  save  even  the  most  degenerate  laces 
from  absolute  anarchy,  putrescence  and  decay, 

8.  Man's  very  imperfections  and  sins  are  substan- 
tially the  same.  There  is  a  universal  and  congenital  dis- 
location of  man's  powers,  and  especially  of  the  moral 
faculty,  which  psychologists  do  not  attempt  to  explain. 
Sinful  self-will  is  manifest  in  every  individual  of  the 
race.  Who  will  controvert  it?  Ps.  xiv.  3  and  Rom.  i. 
18-32  do  avouch  it.  "They  are  all  together  become  fil- 
thy;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one." 

These  things  indicate  a  common  origin.  The  scrip- 
tures alone  explain  it,  and  it  is  rooted  in  the  unity  of 
the  human  race.  The  sin  in  the  Garden  of  Eden  was 
the  beginning  of  all  this  wreck  and  ruin.  Call  it  impu- 
tation, transmission,  imitation  or  any  thing  that  you 
choose,  the  facts  remain.     More  than  this,  God  has  pro- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  37 

vided  a  remedy  adequate  to  the  disease,  and  its  appli- 
cation is  coextensive  with  the  race.  We  may  here  cite 
Paul's  parallel  of  Adam  and  Christ.  Rom.  v.  12-21. 
"As  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sin- 
ners, so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made 
righteous." 

Thus  we  see  that  Revelation,  History,  Ethnology, 
Philology,  Psychology,  Sociology  and  Biology  all  ren- 
der their  testimony  to  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  along 
with  man's  moral  and  religious  nature,  and  a  superadd- 
ed racial  instinct  which  common  sense  ratifies.  Man's 
sin  and  ruin  and  man's  salvation  are  meaningless  terms 
if  not  correlated  to  this  doctrine.  No  other  genus  or 
species  is  so  well  marked  or  so  universally  recognized. 
Skepticism  on  this  point  ends  in  the  rejection  of  the  en- 
tire scheme  of  revelation. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Covenant  with  Noah. 

A  covenant  implies  two  parties  and  either  expresses 
or  implies  mutual  obligations.  One  of  the  parties  may- 
be a  beneficiary,  and  the  obligations  on  his  side  are  the 
result  of  benefits  received  and  the  relations  of  the  par- 
ties. On  the  other  side,  in  such  cases,  the  obligations 
spring  out  of  covenant  promises  voluntarily  made.  In 
the  covenant  of  Grace  the  parties  are  the  Father  and 
the  Son  from  eternity,  and  man  becomes  a  party  to  it 
as  a  beneficiary  by  special  covenant  provision.  There 
are  numerous  covenants  found  in  the  Scriptures  in 
which  God,  in  one  or  more  persons,  is  the  party  on  one 
side,  and  man,  individually  or  collectively,  is  the  party 
on  the  other  side. 

There  are  two  classes  of  covenants  found  in  the 
Scriptures — secular  and  spiritual.  Sometimes  both 
are  found  in  one.  Sometimes  they  are  very  simple, 
and  sometimes  very  elaborate  and  complex.  Vows 
made  by  men  to  God  are  of  the  nature  of  covenants 
though  they  are  not  usually  so  classified. 

The  term  covenant  is  usually  applied  only  to  those 
promises  and  modes  of  administration  which  originate 
with  God  and  inure  to  the  benefit  of  man.  The  creation 
covenant  and  the  covenant  of  works,  one  spiritual  and 
the  other  secular,  date  back  to  the  beginning.  The 
Abrahamic  covenant  is  a  spiritual  covenant  spanning 
the  dispensation  of  grace.     The  Sinaitic  covenant  is 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  39 

both  secular  and  spiritual,  very  complex  and  elaborate, 
covering  all  that  pertained  to  the  welfare  of  the  chosen 
people. 

We  may  note  one  prominent  feature  of  later  cove- 
nants ;  they  recite  former  covenants,  in  part  or  in 
whole,  and  then  add  such  new  provisions  as  may  be 
pertinent ;  and  they  often  combine,  in  one,  things  that 
are  limited  and  temporary,  and  things  intended  to  be 
permanent  and  universal. 

The  covenants  at  the  beginning  were  evidently  per- 
manent and  universal.  Noah  and  the  flood  mark  a 
crisis  or  an  epoch  and  the  covenant  made  with  Noah 
the  day  he  went  out  of  the  ark  was  made  for  the  race 
after  him,  as  we  shall  see. 

It  is  found  in  Gen.  viii.  20-22,  and  ix.  1-17.  It  is  a 
sort  of  bill  of  rights,  and  fundamental  law  for  the  race. 
It  guarantees  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness, 
and  is  in  force  "while  the  world  remaineth."  It  is  in 
part  new,  and  in  part  a  renewal. 

Adam's  blessing  when  he  was  created  may  properly 
be  called  the  creation  covenant.  It  was  repeated  to 
Noah  in  identical  terms.  Gen  i.  28;  ix.  i,  2,  7.  "Be 
fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth.  And 
the  fear  of  you  and  the  dread  of  you  shall  be  upon 
every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  upon  every  fowl  of  the 
air,  upon  all  that  moveth  upon  the  earth,  and  upon  all 
the  fishes  of  the  sea ;  into  your  hand  are  they  de- 
livered."  "Behold  I  have  given  you  every  green  herb 
bearing  seed,  and  every  tree  bearing  fruit ;  to  you  it 
shall  be  for  meat."  This  creation  covenant  gave  the 
race  all  proper  vegetable  food,  dominion  over  creatures, 
and  prolific  increase.  These  three  things  are  repeated 
in  Noah's  covenant  and  blessing;  and  several  things 
are  added,  some  positive  and  some  negative. 


40  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

1.  Fish,  flesh  and  fowl  were  given  for  food  in  addi- 
tion to  fruits  of  the  ground ;  "every  moving  thing  that 
liveth  shall  be  meat  for  you ;  even  as  the  green  herb 
have  I  given  you  all  things."  This  is  an  extension  of 
the  creation  covenant  in  Gen.  i.  28;  comp.  ix.  3.  The 
skins  of  which  God  made  them  coats  in  the  beginning 
must  have  been  the  skins  of  sacrificial  victims.  If  the 
flesh  of  sacrifices  was  eaten  by  priests  and  offerers,  as 
was  done  afterwards,  it  was  ritualistic,  festal,  or  sacra- 
mental, and  was  not  a  part  of  their  regular  food  for  sub- 
sistence. Henceforth  the  race  might  eat  whatsoever 
they  pleased  for  regular  food.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  the 
plea  of  modern  vegetarians  falls  to  the  ground  here. 
Man  was  first  vegetarian  from  the  creation  to  the  flood, 
and  then  carnivorous  by  special  covenant  provision. 

It  is  likely,  however,  that  as  man  deteriorated  be- 
fore the  flood,  and  the  earth  was  corrupt,  and  was 
filled  with  violence,  both  man  and  animals  became  car- 
nivorous and  omnivorous  without  any  divine  warrant 
for  going  beyond  the  dietetic  provision  made  for  them 
both  in  the  beginning,     i.  29,  30. 

2.  Blood  was  forbidden  as  food.  "But  the  flesh 
with  the  life  thereof,  which  is  the  blood  thereof,  shall 
ye  not  eat."  The  reason  assigned  is  that  the  blood  ia 
the  life.  This  prohibition  was  reenacted  at  Sinai  and 
emphasized  in  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy,  and  for  the 
same  reason.  Blood  was  set  apart  as  a  sacred  thing, 
not  to  be  eaten,  because  the  blood  made  atonement  on 
the  altar  for  their  souls,  and  God  had  so  appointed  it, 
from  the  blood  of  the  lamb  sprinkled  on  the  altar  to  the 
blood  of  Christ  which  was  typified  by  it.  See  Leviti- 
cus xvii.  10-15.  The  prohibition  extended  to  things 
strangled  and  to  things  that  died  of  themselves,  be- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  41 

cause  the  blood  was  still  in  the  flesh,  and  so  also  to  that 
which  was  torn  by  wild  beasts. 

This  was  not  a  part  of  the  ritual  system  of  the  Jews 
as  some  suppose.  The  reason  assigned  "The  blood  is 
the  life,"  remains  in  all  ages  and  dispensations.  As 
long  as  the  reason  exists  the  prohibition  must  needs  re- 
main. The  huntsman  was  required  to  bleed  his  game 
and  cover  up  the  blood  with  the  dust  of  the  ground. 
The  prohibition  was  enforced  equally  against  Jew  an -J 
Gentile,  the  children  of  Israel  and  strangers.  The 
reason  is  that  it  was  in  the  covenant  with  Noah,  the 
second  head  of  the  race.  Blood  was  made  sacred  for 
the  race,  because  it  is  by  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ 
that  Jew  and  Gentile  alike  are  saved. 

We  find  this  provision  re-emphasized  by  the  council 
at  Jerusalem  as  set  forth  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
Acts.  Certain  Judaizing  teachers  came  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  Antioch  and  taught  the  brethren  "Except 
ye  be  circumcised  after  the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  can- 
not be  saved."  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  apos- 
tles and  elders  at  Jerusalem.  Some  of  the  believing 
Pharisees  argued  "That  it  was  needful  to  circumcise 
them,  and  to  command  them  to  keep  the  law  of  Moses." 
The  quesion  at  issue  was  this,  whether  Gentile  con- 
verts should  keep  the  Jewish  ritual.  After  a  full  dis- 
cussion a  unanimous  decision  was  reached,  the  Holy 
Ghost  concurring  and  confirming,  that  Gentile  converts 
were  free  from  the  yoke  of  circumcision  and  the  ritual 
obligations  implied  in  it. 

They  therefore  promulgated  a  decree  to  this  effect, 
and  wrote  letters,  and  sent  chosen  men  to  explain  it  to 
the  churches,  who  "went  through  the  cities  and  de- 
livered them  the  decrees  for  to  keep,  that  were  or- 


42  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

dained  of  the  apostles  and  elders  which  were  at  Jeru- 
salem."    xvi.  4. 

They  promulgated  certain  apparent  exceptions,  "It 
seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  us,  to  lay  upon 
you  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary  things ;'' 
"That  ye  abstain  from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  from 
blood,  and  from  things  strangled,  and  from  fornication ; 
from  which  if  ye  keep  yourselves  ye  shall  do  well." 
These  are  not  real  exceptions.  While  they  are  em- 
phasized in  the  Sinaitic  covenant,  they  did  not  origi- 
nate in  it  and  did  not  pass  away  with  it.  Idolatrous 
feasts,  pollutions,  and  unclean  practices  were  alike  for- 
bidden to  all  peoples,  and  always  will  be  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case.  The  eating  of  things  strangled  and 
blood  was  forbidden  to  the  race  in  the  covenant  with 
Noah,  and  was  only  emphasized  in  the  Mosaic  law  as 
against  pagan  practices.  These  things  seem  to  hav^ 
been  reenacted  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem  because 
these  practices  were  common  among  the  Gentiles  of 
that  day,  and  poorly  instructed  pagan  converts  might 
suppose  that  they  were  a  part  of  the  Mosaic  law  and 
not  binding  on  them  because  the  ritual  was  no  longer 
binding.  Whether  these  speculations  be  true  or  not 
this  decree  has  never  been  superseded  and  gentile  con- 
verts are  bound  by  its  provisions  and  will  be  till  the 
end. 

3.  Capital  punishment  was  enjoined  for  murder. 
"And  surely  the  blood  of  your  lives  will  I  require ;  at 
the  hand  of  every  beast  will  I  require  it  and  at  the 
hand  of  man  ;  and  at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother 
will  I  require  the  life  of  man.  Whoso  sheddeth  man's 
blood  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed  ;  for  in  the  image 
of  God  made  he  man."     Gen.  ix.  5,  6. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  43 

Whether  this  provision  was  new  or  not  we  do  noi 
know.  Cain  was  spared  and  protected  by  a  mark  that 
was  set  upon  him  "lest  any  one  finding  him  should  kill 
him."  Conscience,  and  possibly  law,  made  him  fear 
just  retribution.  Lamech  the  murderer  was  not  pun- 
ished, perhaps  because  he  was  the  patriarchal  ruler  and 
judge  of  his  people,  and  in  his  jealous  rage  he  took  the 
life  of  the  young  man  who  injured  him  in  his  home. 

This  much  is  certain  however,  the  wars,  and  vio- 
lence, and  bloodshed  of  the  antediluvian  world  inflicted 
capital  punishments  in  a  most  gigantic  and  lawless 
way,  exactly  as  has  been  done  since.  The  prevalence 
of  wars,  and  bloodshed,  and  murders,  and  assassina- 
tions, and  butcheries  in  all  ages,  outside  of  the  admin- 
istration of  law,  do  amply  prove  that  the  doctrine  of 
capital  punishment  is  deep  rooted,  and  based  on  the 
conscience  of  the  race. 

God  laid  the  execution  of  vengeance  for  murder  up- 
on the  race.  "At  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother  will 
I  require  the  life  or  man."  We  may  not  get  rid  of  the 
responsibility  by  saying  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  ' 
God  says  "The  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto 
me  from  the  ground."  He  holds  the  living  to  account 
for  the  blood  of  their  murdered  dead.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting to  enquire  whether  the  doctrine  of  the  Goel — 
the  blood  brother,  the  avenger  of  blood,  the  redeemer — 
may  not  have  had  a  divine  origin  here  ;  and  whether  the 
failure  of  society  to  punish  the  murderer  may  not  be 
due  to  getting  too  far  away  from  the  doctrine  of  family 
and  personal  responsibility  for  innocent  blood. 

The  dignity  of  human  life  calls  for  its  protection, 
"For  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man."  No  mere 
animal  has  any  such  dignity  and  value.  The  lives  of 
the  lower  animals  may  or  may  not  be  taken  at  the 


44  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

pleasure  or  profit  of  man,  but  it  is  in  no  sense  murder, 
because  no  divine  image  is  marred  thereby.  There  may- 
be needless  and  wanton  cruelty  but  no  murder  in  such 
case.  But  on  the  other  hand,  blood  for  blood  is  the 
law  for  the  human  race  as  long  as  it  remains  true  that 
man  was  made  in  the  image  of  God. 

It  is  provided  also  that  vicious  animals  that  take 
human  life  must  be  put  to  death,  "At  the  hand  of 
every  beast  will  I  require  it."  The  principle  of  blood 
for  blood  is  found  here  also.  This  is  more  than  a  mere 
precaution  to  prevent  further  mischief  by  a  vicious 
animal.  But  if  we  put  it  on  this  low  ground  of  a  mere 
expediency,  it  is  still  evident  that  the  owner  is  the  re- 
sponsible and  the  guilty  party  if  the  life  of  the  vicious 
animal  is  spared  and  further  mischief  ensue. 

4.  The  permanency  of  the  seasons  was  guaranteed. 
When  Noah  made  his  sacrifice  "The  Lord  said  in  his 
heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for 
man's  sake ;"  "neither  again  will  I  smite  every  living 
thing  as  I  have  done.  While  the  earth  remaineth, 
seedtime  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease."  viii. 
21,  22. 

5.  The  Lord  covenanted  that  he  would  no  more  de- 
stroy the  earth  with  a  flood.  In  the  geologic  records 
of  long  ages  past,  great  floods  had  played  a  principal 
part  in  fashioning  mountains,  and  valleys,  and  conti- 
nents, and  in  terminating  great  eras,  and  in  determin- 
ing new  epochs.  The  two  last  are  the  best  known  to 
us,  the  post-glacial  deluge  just  prior  to  the  creation  of 
the  present  cosmos,  and  the  Noachian  deluge,  as  made 
known  to  us  by  Scripture  history,  by  tradition,  and  bv 
its  vestiges  as  found  over  a  large  part  of  the  earth. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  45 

But  the  Lord  covenanted  that  this  should  be  the  last. 
The  next  great  change  shall  be  by  fire,  as  we  learn 
from  2  Pet.  iii.  3-13.  "The  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  shall  be  burned  up."  "Nevertheless,  we  ac- 
cording to  the  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

6.  This  covenant  with  Noah  was  ratified  by  the  bow 
in  the  cloud.  "This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant  which 
I  make  between  me  and  you ;"  "I  do  set  my  bow  in  the 
cloud,  and  it  shall  be  a  token  of  a  covenant  between  me 
and  the  earth,"  etc.  ix.  12-17.  While  this  token  is  men- 
tioned in  immediate  connection  with  the  last  provision 
of  the  covenant,  it  is  evidently  the  token  of  the  entire 
covenant  and  all  its  details. 

This  token  is  of  the  nature  of  a  seal  to  the  covenant. 
Covenants  have  been  sealed  with  some  visible  emblem 
or  device  in  all  ages,  whether  they  be  verbal  or  written. 
The  signmanual,  or  the  seal,  or  both  are  affixed  to  at- 
test the  validity,  of  a  covenant  so  that  it  cannot  be 
broken.  It  also  attests  the  covenant  to  all  beneficiaries 
or  parties  in  interest.  So  the  bow  in  the  cloud  is  Jeho- 
vah's signmanual  and  seal  written  across  the  heavens 
in  ratification  of  his  covenant  and  attesting  it  to  its 
beneficiaries. 

It  has  been  asked  if  the  rainbow  in  the  cloud  had  no 
existence  before  the  flood.  The  question  is  irrelevant, 
for  anything  either  new  or  old,  and  more  commonly 
old,  may  be  adopted  as  a  seal.  A  clod  of  earth  was 
used  in  olden  times  to  seal  the  sale  and  transfer  of  a 
parcel  of  land ;  an  olive  branch  has  sealed  a  treaty  of 
peace ;  the  tasting  of  a  lump  of  salt  has  bound  men  in 
eternal  friendship ;  new  and  complex  devices  have  been 


46  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

adopted  to  ratify  and  seal  contracts,  and  even  the  letter 
"S"  or  the  written  word  "seal"  is  constantly  used  to 
ratify  and  attest  a  covenant.  Human  law  makes  some 
form  of  seal,  no  matter  how  simple  or  familiar,  neces- 
sary to  important  contracts.  So  it  was  entirely  com- 
petent to  adopt  any  natural  phenomenon  like  the  rain- 
bow as  the  seal  of  this  great  epochal  covenant. 

It  seems  possible,  however,  that  there  was  no  rain 
in  Adam  land  before  the  flood.  Gen.  ii.  5  is  often  so 
interpreted.  There  have  been  many  curious  specula  • 
tions  about  rainless  regions  as  the  cradle  of  the  race  in 
the  antediluvian  world.  The  earliest  Post-diluvian 
civilizations  sought  the  rainless  regions  of  the  world  as 
their  habitat — Egypt,  Chaldea,  Mexico  and  Peru.  It 
is  argued  that  they  did  this  in  following  out  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  race.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  rainless 
regions  have  been  the  very  garden  spots  of  the  world, 
partly  by  irrigation,  and  partly  by  an  atmosphere  so 
freighted  with  moisture  as  to  produce  the  best  possible 
results  in  vegetable  and  animal  life.  Be  all  this  as  it 
may,  however,  the  story  of  the  bow  in  the  cloud  is  h: 
no  wise  affected  by  it. 

7.  This  covenant  with  Noah  was  made  for  the  race. 
"And  I,  behold,  I  establish  my  covenant  with  you  and 
with  your  seed  after  you."  ix.  9.  The  Lord  calls  it  an 
"everlasting  covenant,"  a  covenant  "for  perpetual  gene- 
rations," ix.  12,  15;  "while  the  earth  remaineth,  etc' 
viii.  22.  The  regularity  and  the  permanence  of  climatic 
laws  and  conditions  are  guaranteed  in  such  a  way  that 
all  the  pursuits  and  industries  of  the  race  are  based  on 
our  faith  in  the  provisions  of  this  covenant ;  "Seed  time 
and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  win- 
ter, and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease." 

8.  Every  living  creature,  of  the  fowl,  of  the  cattle, 
and  of  everv  beast  of  the  earth,  and  the  verv  earth  it- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  47 

self  are  all  made  beneficiaries  of  this  great  covenant. 
God  has  established  the  interdependence  of  the  human 
race  and  the  earth  with  its  lower  forms  of  life,  for  weal 
or  for  woe.  At  the  fall  the  curse  fell  upon  all,  and  the 
"whole  creation  groaneth,  and  travaileth  .together  in 
pain  until  now."  And  whatever  of  blessing  is  found  in 
this  covenant  with  Noah  is  shared  by  the  earth  and  all 
that  is  upon  it.  May  we  not  also  look  further  down  the 
ages  to  the  full  redemption  of  the  creature  in  a  new 
heavens,  and  a  new  earth  under  the  covenant  of  grace? 

The  conclusion  to  all  this  is  that  if  we  live  under 
this  covenant,  we  live  under  it  all.  If  we  claim  to  sow 
and  reap  under  its  provisions  we  must  abstain  from 
eating  blood,  defend  human  life,  and  punish  the  mur- 
derer. The  dietetic  rules  were  slightly  modified  in  a 
temporary  way  in  the  Sinaitic  covenant  for  a  purpose 
specially  stated,  but  they  may  not  be  permanently  set 
aside  or  even  permanently  modified. 

Yet  men  have  sought  to  set  aside  one  feature  and 
another  of  this  covenant.  If  any  part  is  in  force  it  is 
all  in  force.  Some  have  sought  to  modify  the  dietetic 
provisions  of  the  covenant — some  eat  blood — some  eat 
things  strangled — some  eschew  certain  meats  as  un- 
wholesome— some  claim  that  the  limitation  of  the  Jews 
to  "clean  meats"  is  an  improvement  on  Noah  from  a 
hygienic  and  sanitary  point  of  view.  This  is  wise 
above  what  is  written  and  contravenes  what  is  written. 
Others  again  have  set  aside  the  provision  for  capital 
punishment  as  barbarous  and  unchristian,  sometimes 
by  legislative  enactment,  and  oftener  by  a  mawkish 
sentimentality  in  the  administration  of  law.  But  all 
such  sentimentality  proves  itself  sooner  or  later,  to  be 
cruel  and  bloodthirsty. 

The  only  safe  road  is  to  accept  the  covenant  in  its 
obvious  entirety.     It  is  the  bill  of  rights  for  the  race. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Missionary  Covenant. 

A  covenant  is  an  agreement  between  two  parties. 
The  parties  need  not  be  equals  in  any  sense.  One 
party  may  be  a  beneficiary,  the  mere  recipient  of  a  gift, 
coupled  with  conditions  and  obligations,  expressed  or 
implied. 

The  covenants  of  the  Bible  are  of  divine  origina- 
tion, proposed  to  man  and  accepted  by  him.  They  are 
all  beneficiary,  and  made  with  and  for  the  race,  except 
the  covenant  of  grace,  made  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son  from  eternity  for  the  divine  glory.  All  the 
other  covenants  are  subsidiary  to  this  and  promotive 
of  it,  while  the  race  are  made  partakers  of  its  benefits 
in  so  far  as  we  are  members  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

The  party  to  all  the  other  covenants  on  the  divine 
side  is  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  Second  Person  in  the 
Trinity,  and  the  Mediator  of  all  the  covenants.  We 
shall  seek  to  discover  the  parties  on  the  human  side  as 
we  proceed. 

There  are  found  four  covenants  in  the  Book  of 
Genesis — two  secular,  and  two  spiritual  or  religious. 
The  first  secular  covenant  is  the  creation  covenant, 
giving  man  dominion  over  nature,  bidding  him  to  mul- 
tiply and  subdue  the  earth,  and  assigning  him  food  and 
his  social  life.  The  other  secular  covenant  was  made 
the  day  that  Noah  went  out  of  the  ark.  Here  the  crea- 
tion covenant  was  re-stated  in  express  terms,  with  cer- 
tain important  additions,  and  was  sealed  with  the  bow 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  49 

in  the  cloud.  These  two  secular  covenants  were  made 
with  Adam  and  Noah,  not  as  individuals,  but  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  race.  They  do  constitute  the  bill  of 
rights  of  the  race  on  the  secular  side. 

The  two  religious  covenants  were  made,  one  with 
Adam,  and  one  with  Abraham.  It  need  hardly  be  said 
that  the  "covenant  of  works"  was  made  with  Adam  as 
the  representative  of  his  posterity,  and  that  all  have 
been  materially  afifected  by  it.  The  Abrahamic  cove- 
nant marks  the  great  religious  epoch  of  the  ages,  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  his  descendants  kept  the 
anniversary  of  its  confirmation  for  many  centuries. 
We  propose  to  consider  this  covenant  in  its  trend  and 
scope  as  made  for  the  recovery  of  the  race  from  the 
wreck  and  curse  of  the  former  covenant,  the  covenant 
of  works. 

We  have  glimpses  of  an  earlier  covenant,  or  dispen- 
sation, or  hierarchy,  which  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
overlapped  and  finally  superseded.  There  was  a 
church,  no  doubt,  before  the  flood,  in  which  the  pa- 
triarchs were  both  priests  and  prophets.  After  the 
flood  we  have  evidence  of  an  ecclesiastical  system,  in 
which  Melchizedek,  the  great  type  of  Christ,  "called  of 
God,"  was  a  hierarch ;  and  perhaps  Potipherah,  priest 
of  On,  and  Jethro  and  Balaam  later  on.  The  blight  of 
decay  and  apostasy  was  upon  this  hierarchy,  and  it  be- 
came necessary,  in  the  economy  of  grace,  to  set  up  a 
covenant  of  universal  and  permanent  adaptation. 

Four  hundred  years  after,  the  theocratic  or  Sinaitic 
covenant  was  engrafted  on  it,  partly  secular  and  partly 
spiritual.  This  was  designed  to  be  temporary,  worn  as 
a  garment  till  it  should  decay  and  wax  old,  and  then  be 
folded  away,  to  be  superseded  by  the  new  covenant  in 
Christ — the  gospel  dispensation,  itself  foreshadowed  in 


50  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

all  the  ages  by  prophet  and  type.  Neither  the  old  nor 
the  new  in  anywise  modified  or  made  of  none  effect  the 
covenant  with  Abraham,  either  by  their  pulling  down 
or  their  setting  up.  In  due  time  the  synagogue  system 
arose,  overlapping  the  old  and  the  new,  and  subserving 
a  purpose  to  be  noted  later  on. 

Our  theme,  therefore,  is  the  Missionary  Character  of 
the  Covenant  with  Abraham. 

Let  us  examine  its  terms :  "I  will  make  of  thee  a 
great  nation,  and  I  will  bless  thee,  and  make  thy  name 
great;  and  thou  shalt  be  a  blessing:  and  I  will  bless 
them  that  bless  thee,  and  curse  him  that  curseth  thee ; 
and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 
(Gen.  xii.  2,  3.)  "And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed."     (Gen.  xxii.  18.) 

Who  are  this  seed?  The  natural  seed?  Hardly. 
Isaac  and  Jacob  were  counted,  Ishmael  and  Esau  re- 
jected. John  the  Baptist  said:  "Think  not  to  say 
within  yourselves,  We  have  Abraham  to  our  father,  for 
I  say  unto  you,  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham."  And  yet  partly  the  natural 
seed,  which  is  necessary  to  the  right  apprehension  of 
history.  There  is  a  visible  side  to  all  the  covenants, 
just  as  we  talk  of  the  visible  church. 

Who  are  this  seed?  The  spiritual  seed?  Largely 
so,  "They  which  are  of  faith,  the  same  are  the  chil- 
dren of  Abraham."  (Gal.  iii.  7.)  "They  which  be  of 
faith  are  blessed  with  faithful  Abraham."  (Verse  9.) 
He  received  the  sign  and  seal  of  circumcision  "that  he 
might  be  the  father  of  all  that  believe."  (Rom,  iv. 
II.) 

But  who  is  this  seed?  Paul  says  Christ:  "Now  to 
Abraham  and  his  seed  were  the  promises  made.  He 
saith  not,  And  to  seeds,  as  of  many ;  but  as  of  one.  And 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  51 

to  thy  seed,  which  is  Christ."  The  promises  culminate 
in  him  and  become  efficient  through  him.  He  is  Abra- 
ham's natural  seed  and  the  object  of  his  faith,  of  the 
faith  of  every  believer.  Paul,  therefore,  made  no  mis- 
take, and  did  not  contradict  himself  when  he  added,  "If 
ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs 
according  to  the  promise."  Who,  then,  are  the  bene- 
ficiaries and  parties?     Believers  of  each  and  every  age. 

It  were  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Abraham  and  hi3 
seed  were  parties  to  this  covenant  for  their  own  sakes. 
The  outlook  for  the  covenant  is  the  race,  in  all  the 
working  of  it  from  Abraham  to  Christ.  The  benefi- 
ciary feature  has  been  too  much  emphasized  by  poor, 
selfish  human  nature.  "I  do  not  this  for  your  sakes,  O 
house  of  Israel,  but  for  my  holy  name's  sake."  (Ezek. 
xxxvi.  22.)  "The  heathen  shall  know  that  I  am  the 
Lord,  saith  the  Lord  God,  when  I  shall  be  sanctified  in 
you  before  their  eyes."     (Verse  23.) 

But  more  than  this,  the  beneficiary  in  receiving  a 
benefit  becomes  a  party  to  a  covenant  obligation.  It 
is  so  in  the  family.  The  son  who  does  not  lavish  on 
others  an  hundred-fold  the  wealth  of  love  and  blessing 
poured  into  his  own  bosom  is  a  churl  indeed.  The 
daughter  whose  heart  and  life  are  not  radiant  with  a 
mother's  love  and  blessing  is  wretched  in  her  selfish- 
ness and  blights  the  happiness  of  all  around  her.  This 
is  the  true  altruism,  "Freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give."  It  is  so  in  Abraham's  family.  Prophecy  be- 
comes obligation.  "In  thee  shall  all  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed"  lays  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth  a 
sacred  trust  on  the  hearts  of  his  covenant  people.  It 
would  be  easy  to  show  the  liberality  and  the  missionary 
spirit  of  this  covenant  by  large  quotations  from  the 
Law,  the  Psalms,  and  the  Prophets,  though  it  is  not 


52  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

always  easy  to  distinguish  that  which  was  strictly  Mes- 
sianic from  that  which  was  strictly  within  the  horizon 
of  the  writer.  I  prefer,  however,  in  this  discussion  to 
ascertain  the  trend  and  scope  of  the  covenant  as  shown 
by  the  historic  facts  discovered  in  its  administration. 

Let  us  trace  the  catholicity  of  this  covenant  from 
the  first,  Peter  summed  it  all  up  when  he  said :  "The 
promise  is  to  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that 
are  afar  ofif,  even  to  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall 
call."  Abram  was  a  cosmopolite,  equally  at  home 
everywhere,  and  a  good  neighbor  to  all.  His  enormous 
household,  of  perhaps  two  thousand  slaves,  was  gath- 
ered from  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Egypt. 
These  all  were  parties  to  the  covenant  by  circumcision 
before  ever  Isaac  was  born,  and  equally  with  Isaac  and 
Jacob.  And  if  you  suppose  that  the  sign  and  seal  of 
that  covenant  was  an  empty  thing  to  them,  consider 
the  faith  of  Eliezer,  his  trusted  steward,  when  he 
prayed  at  the  well  in  Padan-aram ;  or  consider  the  fur- 
ther fact  that  Abram  commanded  his  "household  after 
him,"  so  faithfully  and  successfully  that  the  Lord  as- 
signed this  as  the  reason  for  making  him  his  confiden- 
tial friend  and  counsellor.  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  also 
cosmopolites,  rich  in  men-servants  and  maid-servants, 
who  were  parties  to  the  same  covenant  by  circumcision. 
Steady  manumission  and  intermarriages  made  them  all 
a  homogeneous  people,  unified  by  a  common  faith  and 
worship.  It  might  easily  be  shown  that  the  genea- 
logical tables  do  not  contradict  this.  Assimilation  was 
the  law  of  their  growth,  as  they  expanded  into  a  people, 
and  not  purity  of  blood.  Judah's  wife  was  a  Canaan- 
itish  woman,  and  he  begat  Pharez,  by  Tamar,  the  de- 
frauded widow  of  his  two  dead  sons.  Joseph  married 
Asenath,  of  unknown  blood,  and  she  became  the  mother 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  53 

of  the  two  great  tribes,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim. 
Egypt  was  a  composite  people — the  centre  of  travel, 
trade,  and  civilization.  When  the  Exodus  came,  there 
emerged  a  somewhat  homogeneous  people,  two  mil- 
lions strong,  besides  a  "mixed  multitude"  that  followed 
them  and  cast  in  their  fortunes  with  them.  These  all 
constituted  the  visible  side  of  the  covenant  at  Mt. 
Sinai. 

Forty  years  in  the  wilderness  completed  the  assimi- 
lation, purged  away  the  unbelieving,  and  made  faith 
the  homogeneous  bond,  sealed  with  circumcision  at 
Gilgal,  and  winning  its  first  triumph  at  Jericho. 

Just  before  this,  however,  God  gave  them  rules  to 
guide  them  in  making  war  and  capturing  cities  (other 
than  the  condemned  nations),  that  the  women  and 
children  should  be  saved  alive  and  distributed  as  spoil. 
And  when  Moses  punished  the  Midianites  for  their 
agency  in  the  seduction  by  Moab,  thirty  thousand  fe- 
male children  were  saved  alive,  distributed  as  spoil,  and 
introduced  into  the  families  of  Israel.  And  soon  after 
the  fall  of  Jericho,  the  Gibeonites,  a  royal  city,  with  her 
towns,  were  incorporated  by  treaty,  and  were  placed 
near  to  the  covenant  by  being  assigned  to  tabernacle 
service,  and  were  no  doubt  finally  assimilated.  The 
unconquered  remnants  of  the  condemned  nations  were 
probably  assimilated  in  the  time  of  David  and  Solomon. 
Many  of  the  Philistines  also  became  their  staunchest 
and  most  trusted  adherents.  During  the  period  of  the 
Asmonean  princes,  when  theocratic  faith  reached  its 
culmination,  the  Geshurites,  Moabites,  Ammonites, 
and  Edomites  were  proselyted  and  absorbed  into 
Judaism. 

It  is  a  most  significant  fact  in  this  connection  that 
the    blood    of    the    Canaanite,    Moabite,    and    Hittite 


54  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

flowed  in  the  veins  of  the  Son  of  man  through  Tamar, 
and  Rahab,  and  Ruth,  and  Bathsheba. 

From  all  these  historic  data  we  conclude  that  the 
covenant  was  a  universal  blessing  in  its  earliest  unfold- 
ing. But  one  will  say,  What  mean  the  exclusive  rites 
of  Judaism,  such  as  meats  and  drinks?  The  answer  is 
easy.  They  were  intended  to  shut  the  door  of  pagan- 
ism against  the  Jew,  while  the  door  of  Judaism  was 
left  wide  open  to  the  pagan  to  come  into  Judaism  by 
proselytism  and  circumcision. 

The  visible  side  of  the  covenant  reached  its  meri- 
dian during  the  kingdom.  Palestine  was  the  seat  of 
the  strongest  kingdom  on  earth.  For  eighty  years 
other  great  kingdoms  seemed  to  pass  into  eclipse.  By 
tribute,  caravan-trade,  and  commerce  by  sea,  the  choic- 
est treasures  of  Asia  and  Africa  were  poured  into  her 
lap,  and  Jerusalem  became  the  centre  of  learning  and 
culture  for  all  nations.  Kings  and  queens  sat  and 
learned  wisdom  from  the  son  of  the  sweet  singer  of 
Israel.  If  ever  the  promise  is  to  be  fulfilled  and  all  na- 
tions receive  the  blessing,  surely  now  is  the  set  time. 
But  no.  They  knew  not  that  they  "came  to  the  king- 
dom for  such  a  time  as  this."  Instead  of  saving  the  na- 
tions, they  are  themselves  corrupted  by  the  seductions 
of  wealth  and  luxury,  and  by  contact  with  the  heathen. 
The  failure  was  most  lamentable,  and  their  opportunity 
was  taken  away.  The  kingdom  was  divided,  and  the 
story  of  decay  and  punishment  is  perhaps  the  saddest 
in  history.  It  became  a  question  whether  the  covenant 
they  had  betrayed  would  survive  internal  treachery  and 
external  hostility.  There  was  a  prolonged  struggle  be- 
tween the  two  great  politico-religious  parties,  the  cove- 
nanters and  the  apostates,  and  orthodoxy  sometimes 
seemed  to  be  doomed.     The  kingdom  of  Israel  went 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  55 

down  in  darkness  in  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  years, 
and  the  kingdom  of  Judah  survived  her  only  seventy- 
two  years.  Jerusalem  was  left  in  heaps,  the  land  was 
left  desolate,  without  tillage  or  vine-dressing.  All 
seemed  lost.  The  hope  of  Israel  seemed  perished,  save 
to  the  eye  of  faith,  confirmed  by  the  vision  of  the  major 
prophets. 

When  we  examine  the  conditions  we  find  that  the 
apostate  party  had  been  largely  exterminated  and  the 
power  of  their  allies  permanently  broken.  The  ortho- 
dox party  were  deported  and  placed  in  conditions  most 
favorable  for  fixing  their  faith  and  for  eradicating  the 
last  traces  of  idolatry,  with  Ezekiel  as  their  prophet, 
and  Daniel  as  their  friend  and  the  prime  minister  in 
perhaps  five  dynasties.  Nebuchadnezzar  slew  their 
false  prophets,  and  the  idolatrous  king  Jehoiachin  lan- 
guished in  prison  for  thirty-seven  years.  By  the  cap- 
tivity Judaism  was  purged  of  her  apostates  and  took  a 
new  lease  of  life. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  synagogue  was 
grafted  on  to  Judaism  for  worship,  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline. Up  to  this  time  a  modified  patriarchism  pre- 
vailed. The  church  was  in  the  home,  and  the  congre- 
gation was  the  family.  The  patriarchal  system  was 
broken  up  by  the  captivity,  and  congregations  of  four- 
teen or  more  were  organized  everywhere,  each  with  its 
chosen  officers,  constituting  what  Gibbon  calls  a  pow- 
erful commonwealth.  This  synagogue  system  was 
the  catholic  or  universal  feature,  adapted  to  all  climes 
and  conditions,  overlapping  their  crippled  and  waning 
ceremonial  and  ritual  system,  and  destined  to  live,  as 
the  dress  and  form  of  the  covenant,  after  Sinai's  cove- 
nant should  be  superseded. 

So    the    synagogue,    with    the    Law,    Psalms,    and 


56  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Prophets,  became  to  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion  their 
church  home.  They  built  houses  as  we  build  churches, 
and  every  synagogue  was  a  centre  of  religious  light  and 
life,  a  mission  station  among  the  heathen,  with  doors 
wide  open  to  proselytes  from  every  people,  both  prose- 
lytes of  the  gate  and  proselytes  of  justice. 

But  you  say  that  the  despised  and  persecuted  Jew 
had  scant  hope  of  making  proselytes.  But  was  he  de- 
spised and  persecuted?  Sometimes.  Antiochus  Epi- 
phanes,  in  Syria,  and  Ptolemy  Physcon,  in  Egypt,  tried 
to  persecute  and  destroy  them,  but  were  themselves 
riven  and  blasted  by  him  who  said,  "Him  that  curseth 
thee  I  will  curse."  The  Jews  of  the  dispersion  were  a 
favored  people  and  a  trusted  people.  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's settled  policy  for  his  empire  was  this.  Cyrus  the 
Great  established  this  as  the  policy  of  the  Medo-Per- 
sian  empire  against  the  machinations  of  all  the  peoples 
from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Mediterranean.  Alexander 
the  Great  adopted  the  same  traditional  policy  in  the 
Greco-Persian  empire  for  reasons  of  his  own ;  and  he 
left  this  policy  as  a  legacy  to  the  four  consolidated  king- 
doms that  sprang  out  of  the  ruins  of  his  empire.  The 
same  policy  prevailed  in  imperial  Rome,  if  we  can  be- 
lieve Juvenal.  Strabo,  and  Seneca.  Did  they  mn'---  • 
proselytes?  When  Haman,  the  Amalekite,  plotted  the 
destruction  of  all  the  Jews  in  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  provinces  of  the  Medo-Persian  empire, 
and  was  thwarted  because  Mordecai  the  Jew  sat  in  the 
king's  gate,  and  Queen  Esther,  the  beautiful  Jewess, 
lay  in  the  bosom  of  King  Ahasuerus,  "The  Jews  had 
light,  and  gladness,  and  joy,  and  honor,"  "And  many 
of  the  people  of  the  land  became  Jews."  (Esther  viii. 
i6,  17.)  "For  Mordecai  the  Jew  was  next  unto  King 
Ahasuerus,  and  great  among  the  Jews,  and  accepted  of 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  57 

the  multitude  of  his  brethren,  seeking  the  wealth  of  his 
people,  and  speaking  peace  unto  his  people."     (Esther 

X.  3-) 

During  the  dispersion,  then,  from  Daniel  to  Christ, 
the  Jews  were  missionaries  of  the  covenant  to  the  race 
for  they  went  everywhere.  Immense  numbers  became 
proselytes,  especially  women,  who  sought  rest  in  Is- 
rael's hope  from  the  despair  of  heathenism.  The  sim- 
ple monotheism  and  pure  morality  of  the  synagogue 
served  to  loosen  the  shackles  of  a  waning  paganism 
and  check  a  growing  skepticism.  They  prepared  the 
world  for  Christ  and  furnished  the  matrix  for  the  gos- 
pel. May  we  not  say  that  the  covenant  to  bless  all  na- 
tions had  its  best  Judaic  fulfilment  in  that  period  of  ap- 
parent decadence  and  eclipse? 

When  the  gospel  was  preached  by  apostolic  mission- 
aries, beginning  at  Jerusalem,  the  great  ingatherings 
consisted  largely  of  pious  Jews  and  devout  proselytes, 
who  were  mightily  convinced  that  "Jesus  was  the 
Christ" ;  the  rest  apostatized.  The  synagogue  here 
parted  into  two  streams,  to  be  reunited  some  day  in 
furtherance  of  the  covenant. 

The  believing  synagogue  was  and  is  the  church, 
with  the  same  aggressive  instinct,  stimulated  by  faith 
realized,  by  the  charisms  of  the  Spirit  and  by  Christ's 
last  commission.  Every  believer  becomes  in  the  very 
act  of  faith  a  party  to  the  covenant.  "If  ye  be  Christ's, 
then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the 
promise." 

The  promise  in  its  entirety  of  benefit  and  obliga- 
tion belongs  to  the  church  and  is  transmitted  from  seed 
to  seed  for  the  salvation  of  men.  You  and  I  are  only 
means  to  an  end,  links  in  the  great  chain  of  causation. 
We  are  not  mere  beneficiaries  of  a  salvation  scheme. 


58  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Was  Abraham  a  party  to  the  covenant  to  bless  all  na- 
tions? So  are  we.  Was  Christ  a  party  to  the  same 
covenant?  So  are  you.  The  great  commission  may  be 
new  in  its  terms,  but  not  in  its  significance.  What 
says  the  covenant?  "Abraham,  go  bless  all  nations; 
Moses,  David,  Daniel,  go  bless  all  the  families  of  the 
earth."  The  Father  said  to  the  Son,  "Go  bless  all  na- 
tions" "Thou  shalt  see  of  the  travail  of  thy  soul  and  be 
satisfied."  "I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  in- 
heritance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy 
possession."  He  transmits  the  charge  and  the  obliga- 
tion to  his  immediate  disciples,  and  they  hand  it  down 
the  centuries  to  all  the  seed.  Have  you  realized  that 
you  are  personal  parties  to  the  covenant,  as  distinctly 
so  as  Abraham  or  Paul  or  Christ?  The  very  name  of 
Abraham  has  been  an  inspiration  in  all  ages  and  to  all 
peoples,  notably  the  Bedouins,  and  Joktanite  Arabs, 
and  the  Magians  of  Central  Asia.  The  Shasters  of 
India  do  him  honor;  the  Mohammedans  swear  by  his 
beard ;  the  Jew's  only  hope  is  in  Abraham  his  father. 
Much  of  this  may  be  superstition,  but  it  is  a  sponta- 
neous loyalty  to  the  man  that  God  blessed,  and  made  a 
blessing  to  all  nations.  Christians  sometimes  forget 
that  he  is  our  father  also.  Did  Lazarus  go  to  his 
bosom?  So  shall  we,  and  not  alone ;  we  shall  carry  the 
nations  with  us. 

But  one  will  say  that  we  have  overlooked  the  secu- 
lar side  of  the  covenant  which  promised  a  land  that 
flowed  with  milk  and  honey,  a  goodly  land  of  rest  from 
all  their  long  and  weary  wanderings  and  oppressions. 
True.  And  the  promise  still  is,  "The  meek  shall  in- 
herit the  earth."  "The  righteous  have  the  promise  of 
the  life  that  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come."  And 
"there  remaineth  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God,"  of  which 
Canaan  was  only  a  type.     The  covenant  still  has  its 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  59 

visible  and  secular  side  to  us,  and  all  the  more  if  we  be 
faithful  to  win  others  to  him. 

You  remember  the  history  of  the  covenanters  of 
Scotland — their  patriotism,  their  fidelity  to  kings  and 
princes,  their  adherence  to  the  rights  of  conscience, 
their  sturdy  fortitude  in  adversity,  their  bravery  in 
battle,  and  their  heroism.  Yet  their  covenants  were 
largely  earth-born.  They  often  made  serious  mis- 
takes; but  they  won  the  blessedness  of  him  "that 
sweareth  to  his  own  hurt  and  changeth  not."  Many 
of  us  are  the  sons  of  those  covenanters  by  direct  de- 
scent or  by  adoption.  All  of  us  have  a  heaven-born 
covenant,  God-given  and  oath-bound.  Our  only  alle- 
giance is  to  the  Prince  of  Peace.  We  have  battles  to 
fight  for  our  King;  a  warfare  to  endure,  persecutions  to 
face,  and  martyrdoms  to  suffer.  Will  we  "quit  our- 
selves like  men"?  "Cursed  is  he  that  doeth  the  work  of 
the  Lord  deceitfully,  cursed  is  he  that  keepeth  back  his 
sword  from  blood." 

"Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?"  There  stands 
one  behind  the  covenant  who  says,  "Him  that  blesseth 
you  I  will  bless,  and  him  that  curseth  you  I  will  curse." 
"Lo !  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world." 

We  have  victories  to  win.  The  covenant  is  aggres- 
sive, and  the  nations  shall  be  blessed  by  conquest.  But 
"we  do  not  war  after  the  flesh ;  for  the  weapons  of  our 
warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty  through  God  to  the 
pulling  down  of  strongholds ;  casting  down  imagina- 
tions, and  every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against 
the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  into  captivity 
every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ."  Christ  the 
Lord  is  our  captain  and  leader,  and  the  triumphal  day 
is  coming.     Paul  says,  "Now  thanks  be  to  God  which 


6o  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

always  causeth  us  to  triumph  in  Christ,  and  maketh 
manifest  the  savor  of  his  knowledge  by  us  in  every 
place."  A  Roman  triumph  was  a  proud  day  for  the  em- 
peror returning  from  successful  war  with  long  proces- 
sions of  captives  and  spoils  taken  in  battle  ;  and  a  proud 
day  it  was  for  his  veterans,  by  whose  valor  he  achieved 
it  all ;  and  a  proud  day  it  was  for  the  loyal  populations 
from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  which  lined  the  Appian 
Way  and  made  the  heavens  ring  with  their  glad  ac- 
claim. May  we  not  imagine  something  like  this  in  the 
final  triumph  of  our  Lord  and  King?  But  when?  The 
throne  has  been  set,  the  archangel's  trumpet  has  sound- 
ed, the  dead,  small  and  great,  have  stood  before  God ; 
we  who  remain  have  been  caught  up  to  meet  him  in  the 
air;  the  books  have  been  opened,  and  the  judgment  is 
ended.  The  wicked  are  swept  by  the  breath  of  his  ven- 
geance into  chains  and  darkness  forever.  And  now  he 
is  ready  to  lead  his  people  home,  and  celebrate  the 
triumphs  of  his  grace  along  the  streets  of  the  golden 
city,  where  twelve  legions  of  angels  await  his  coming 
at  the  gates,  and  the  walls,  and  the  battlements,  and 
the  streets,  and  all  the  winged  upper  air  are  eager  for 
his  appearing. 

Who  will  be  marshall  of  the  day?  Michael?  Ga- 
briel? Hardly.  One  of  his  tried  lieutenants,  I  am 
sure ;  perhaps  Joshua,  perhaps  John  the  Baptist,  per- 
haps Knox  or  Carey ;  we  care  not  who.  "Fall  into 
line,"  a  great  multitude  that  no  man  can  number,  as  the 
sand  of  the  seashore,  as  the  stars  in  heaven.  First 
Abel  and  his  mother,  and  Seth,  and  all  the  antediluvian 
"sons  of  God."  Fall  into  line,  Noah  walking  almost 
alone  at  first,  and  his  following  for  a  thousand  years, 
far  more  numerous  than  some  suppose.  These  are  the 
vanguards  of  the  great  procession. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  6i 

Fall  into  line,  Father  Abraham,  faithful  Abraham  ! 

"His  faith  is  sweetly  lost  in  sight 
And  hope  in  full  supreme  delight, 
And  everlasting  love." 

Then  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  the  twelve  patriarchs  and 
all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  prophets,  priests,  and  kings,  and 
judges,  and  all  their  faithful  following. 

But  who  is  this  that  cometh,  "meek  and  lowly,  sit- 
ting on  an  ass,  on  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass?  And  the 
multitude  about  him  cry,  Hosannah."  'Tis  Zion's  king, 
King  Jesus,  "with  garments  dyed  from  Bozrah."  "He 
trod  the  wine-press  alone." 

Next  to  him  walks  John,  and  Mary  leaning  on  his 
arm. 

Fall  into  line,  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  teach- 
ers, and  helps,  each  with  their  trophies  of  grace,  and  the 
whole  army  of  martyrs  arrayed  in  white — Luther,  and 
Calvin,  and  Knox,  and  Wesley,  and  all  the  redeemed  to 
our  day ;  and  the  procession  is  only  begun. 

There  shall  be  in  line  China,  Japan,  India,  Africa, 
South  America  and  the  isles  of  the  sea.  These  all  are 
His,  and  shall  be  His.  Imagination  fails  to  tell  the 
story.  But  methinks  that  mighty  host  shall  sing,  as 
they  march  to  seraphic  music.  Psalm  xxiv. : 

"The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof; 
The  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein. 
For  the  hath  founded  it  upon  the  seas, 
And  established  it  upon  the  floods. 
Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord? 
And  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place? 
He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart ; 
Who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity, 


62  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

And  hath  not  sworn  deceitfully. 

He  shall  receive  a  blessing  from  the  Lord, 

And  righteousness  from  the  God  of  his  salvation. 

This  is  the  generation  of  them  that  seek  a^ter  him, 

That  seek  thy  face,  O  Jacob.    Selali. 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 

And  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors; 

And  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 

Who  is  the  King  of  glcry? 

The  Lord  strong  and  mighty. 

The  Lord  mighty  in  battle." 

And  the  assembled  universe  of  God  shall  catch  up 
the  refrain : 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ; 
Yea,  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors; 
And  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 
Who  is  the  King  of  glory? 
The  Lord  of  hosts. 
He  is  the  King  of  glory.     Selah." 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Sabbath. 

The  word  Sabbath  is  adopted  from  the  Hebrew 
through  the  Greek  and  its  literal  meaning  is  rest,  cessa- 
tion from  work.  In  ordinary  usage  it  signifies  rest  for 
religious  purposes,  cessation  from  work  for  worship. 
This  name  was  given  to  the  seventh  day  of  the  week 
because  in  it  God  rested  or  ceased  from  the  work  of 
creation.  The  seventh  day  was  set  apart  and  made 
holy  to  the  Lord  as  set  forth  in  Gen.  ii.  1-3,  and  in  the 
fourth  commandment.  The  seventh  day  of  the  week  is 
called  "The  Sabbath"  to  distinguish  it  from  other  sa- 
cred days  which  were  called  sabbaths. 

All  religious  festal  days  were  called  sabbaths.  The 
first  day  of  the  Passover,  the  day  of  the  first  fruits,  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  the  great  day  of  Atonement,  the  first 
and  eighth  days  of  the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  feast  of 
Trumpets  and  other  days  were  called  Sabbaths.  No 
servile  work  was  allowed,  and  a  holy  convocation  was 
held,  and  the  days  were  observed  throughout  the  land 
as  holy  to  the  Lord.  Levit.  xxiii.  6,  7,  8,  21,  24,  32,  35, 
36,  38,  39- 

These  are  the  days  so  often  referred  to  as  "my  Sab- 
baths" in  the  plural.  Levit.  xxv.  2,  4;  xix.  3,  30;  Ezek. 
XX.  12,  20.  These  were  to  be  a  sign  between  them  and 
their  God,  and  were  essentially  Jewish  in  their  origin 
and  observance.  The  Seventh  Day  Sabbath  was  for 
the  race.  In  Ex.  xxxi.  13,  14,  we  find  the  double  in- 
junction— "My  Sabbaths  shall  ye  keep ;"  and  "ye  shall 


64  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

keep  the  Sabbath,  etc."  Keeping  the  one  would  not 
excuse  from  keeping  the  other;  therefore  the  seventh 
day  sabbath  is  re-emphasized  and  they  are  both  made 
signs  between  him  and  his  people  Israel.  The  neglect 
of  either  was  practical  rejection  of  him.  In  the  same 
sense  the  two  tables  of  the  law  and  the  keeping  of  them, 
as  a  matter  of  covenant,  were  to  be  a  sign  between 
them. 

Some  argue  that  the  Sabbath,  i.  e.  the  seventh  day 
Sabbath,  was  a  Jewish  institution,  originating  at  Mount 
Sinai ;  that  it  was  a  part  of  their  typical  and  ceremonial 
system ;  and  that  it  passed  away  with  that  ceremonial 
system.  This  is  the  Continental  view  which  will  be 
stated  more  fully  later  on. 

The  orthodox  or  Presbyterian  view  says  that  the 
Sabbath  dates  back  to  the  beginning ;  was  a  part  of  the 
moral  law ;  and  is  of  perpetual  binding  authority.  We 
shall  examine  this  view  first. 

The  Sabbath  originated  at  the  beginning.  This  is 
the  natural  interpretation  of  Gen.  ii.  2,  3.  The  state- 
ment is  in  simple  historical  form — the  work  of  crea- 
tion, the  resting,  the  blessing  and  hallowing  of  the 
seventh  day.  These  all  are  found  in  one  sentence  or 
proposition.  The  institution  of  the  family  is  stated  in 
the  same  simple  way.  We  naturally  conclude  that  the 
Sabbath  and  the  family  were  given  at  the  beginning  as 
the  two  fundamental  institutions  of  the  race.  The 
exegesis  which  rejects  one  may  easily  be  made  to  reject 
the  other.  It  is  argued  however,  that  Moses  injects 
into  the  narrative  his  own  reasons  for  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath  at  a  later  time,  or  rather  God's  reasons. 
Was  the  family  instituted  later  also,  as  the  evolutionist 
claims?  If  Moses  did  so,  it  ought  plainly  so  to  appear. 
In  all  Moses'  account  of  the  history  before  his  times, 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  65 

there  is  not  a  single  place  where  he  introduces  himself 
and  his  comments  on  the  history,  in  the  way  of  argu- 
ment or  lesson.  The  form  of  statement  in  the  fourth 
commandment  points  backwards  to  a  previous  institu- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  not  only  in  the  use  of  the  word 
"Remember,"  but  also  in  connecting  the  same  three 
facts  of  creation,  resting,  and  hallowing  the  day  of  rest. 

It  is  difficult  to  convince  a  recusant  with  an  exe- 
gesis, for  he  will  not  see  it.  We  must  reinforce  the 
exegesis  with  facts  if  possible. 

We  note  therefore  that  seventh  day  periods  are 
mentioned  in  the  account  of  the  flood.  The  doves  were 
sent  out  at  intervals  of  seven  days.  Gen.  viii.  10,  12. 
Hebdomidal  periods  point  back  to  creation  and  imply 
the  Sabbath.  The  wicked  antediluvian  world  may 
have  ignored  the  Sabbath  but  righteous  Noah  retained 
it.  It  may  be  shown  that  every  prominent  event  men- 
tioned during  the  flood  occurred  on  a  seventh  day,  a 
Sabbath.  It  began  to  rain  "on  day  seven,"  according 
to  the  marginal  reading,  and  not  "after  seven  days"  as 
in  our  translation.  Or  else  the  closing  of  the  ark  and 
the  beginning  of  the  rain  were  seven  days  apart.  The 
date,  the  month  and  the  day  of  the  month,  when  the 
flood  and  the  rain  began  is  given.  Now  we  may  con- 
struct a  calendar  for  the  year  according  to  the  Egyptian 
calendar,  eleven  months  of  thirty  days  each  and  the 
twelfth  of  thirty-five  days  making  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days,  and  then  begin  the  flood  and  rain  on  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week.  The  next  six  weeks — forty 
days,  or  forty-two  days  according  to  the  mode  of  count- 
ing— bounded  the  rain  and  overflow.  The  waters  pre- 
vailed (increased)  twenty-one  weeks — 147  or  149  days 
according  to  the  mode  of  counting  and  were  at  their 
maximum  on  the  150th  day.     Then  the  ark  rested,  the 


66  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

dry  land  appeared,  the  doves  were  sent  forth,  the  earth 
was  dry  and  Noah  went  out,  all  on  seventh  day  periods. 
The  day  he  went  out  was  a  day  of  worship  and  God  put 
honor  upon  it  and  made  the  covenant  with  Noah  for  the 
race.  These  coincidences  were  not  accidental.  These 
were  Sabbath  days  if  "day  seven"  at  the  beginning  was 
the  Sabbath. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  all  this  proves  nothing  more 
than  seven  day  periods  and  the  division  of  time  into 
weeks  as  well  as  months.  Be  it  so.  It  will  then  be 
necessary  to  prove  that  the  Sabbath  was  observed  be- 
fore the  legislation  at  Mt.  Sinai.     This  is  easy. 

The  Hebrews  observed  the  day  before  they  reached 
Mt.  Sinai  under  such  circumstances  as  to  show  that  it 
was  their  habit  to  do  so.  Ex.  xvi.  9-26.  A  careful 
examination  of  this  entire  passage  discovers  the  fol- 
lowing facts. 

1.  The  Hebrews  were  in  the  "Wilderness  of  Sin 
which  is  between  Elim  and  Sinai,"  probably  four  weeks 
before  reaching  Sinai.  And  they  murmured  for  the 
bread  and  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt,     xvi.  1-3. 

2.  God  told  Moses  he  would  send  them  bread  from 
heaven;  "and  the  people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  cer- 
tain rate  every  day,  that  I  may  prove  them,  whether 
they  will  walk  in  my  law  or  no."  What  law,  and  how 
would  he  prove  them  ?     xvi.  4. 

3.  The  Lord  told  Moses  that  on  the  sixth  day  they 
should  gather  twice  as  much  and  prepare  it,  but  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  Sabbath,  but  there  is  an  obvious 
reference  to  the  usual  preparation  for  it  on  the  sixth 
day.     Verse  5. 

4.  Moses  and  Aaron  commanded  the  people  to 
gather  every  man  an  omer  according  to  his  eating  and 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  67 

the  number  of  the  persons.  Verse  16.  But  they  made 
no  mention  of  the  double  quantity  on  the  sixth  day. 
Note  this. 

5.  Moses  commanded  to  leave  none  over  till  morn- 
ing. Some  did  not  hearken,  and  what  was  left  over 
bred  worms  and  stank,  verses  19,  20.  They  learned  by 
experience  that  it  would  not  keep  sweet  till  the  next 
day. 

6.  On  the  sixth  day  the  people  went  out  and  gathered 
double  quantity  in  the  face  of  their  orders  to  gather 
only  an  omer,  and  in  the  face  of  their  experience  that 
it  would  not  keep.  This  must  have  been  the  result  of 
a  deeply  rooted  habit  to  prepare  for  the  Sabbath.  But 
all  the  rulers  went  and  reported  to  Moses  what  the 
people  had  done.  It  was  so  patent  a  violation  of  or- 
ders and  was  so  counter  to  their  experience  in  trying 
to  keep  the  manna  till  the  next  day.     Verse  22. 

7.  Moses  replied  that  they  had  done  right  and  the 
Lord  had  so  commanded,  and  there  would  be  none  to 
gather  the  next  day.  Then  he  issued  the  general  or- 
der to  prepare  always  on  the  sixth  day  just  as  they  had 
already  done.  And  they  had  another  experience  that 
it  would  not  spoil  when  kept  over  till  the  Sabbath. 
Verses  23-26. 

8.  Some  of  the  people,  however,  did  not  gather  on 
the  sixth  day  for  the  seventh,  evidently  pleading  or- 
ders and  experience  against  it.  The  Lord  sent  a 
severe  rebuke  by  Moses,  and  said  further,  "For  that  the 
Lord  hath  given  you  the  Sabbath  therefore  he  giveth 
you  on  the  sixth  day  the  bread  of  two  days." 

9.  We  may  now  see  how  he  proved  them  whether 
they  would  keep  his  law.  The  Sabbath  law  was  para- 
mount against  the  orders  of  Moses  about  gathering 


68  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

only  for  one  day,  and  as  against  their  own  experience. 
This  apparent  contradiction  was  the  test  of  their  faith 
and  obedience,  and  they  stood  the  test  amazingly  well. 
This  test  was  similar,  in  the  manner  of  it,  to  the  test 
that  Abraham  stood  when  commanded  to  offer  up  his 
son  Isaac. 

We  may  now  fairly  conclude  that  the  Sabbath  law 
was  deeply  rooted  in  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  He- 
brews in  Egypt,  and  that  its  observance  was  as  neces- 
sary to  their  spiritual  life  as  is  the  Sabbath  to-day. 
Besides,  we  read  in  this  incident  that  the  type  of  their 
faith  and  piety  was  far  beyond  what  we  would  have 
expected  to  find.  Need  we  compare  it  with  the  habits 
of  many  Christians  to-day? 

The  Sabbath  is  not  a  ceremonial,  as  some  argue. 
It  is  no  part  of  a  mere  ritual.  We  find  in  it  none  of 
the  features  of  a  type.  We  find  in  it  no  form  to  be  ob- 
served because  it  represented  some  underlying  sub- 
stance. The  ceremonials  of  the  Jews  were  forbidden 
to  the  stranger  or  uncircumcised  foreigner,  but  the 
Sabbath  was  to  be  observed  by  the  "stranger  in  thy 
gates." 

Nor  was  it  a  mere  memorial  of  God's  rest  after 
creation,  to  be  observed  by  courtesy  and  in  a  senti- 
mental way  like  a  national  holiday,  or  a  birthday,  or  a 
Saint's  day,  or  a  Christmas.  ^ 

It  is  a  great  moral  law,  and  not  a  mere  positive  pre- 
cept. Laws,  institutions  and  precepts  which  are  based 
on  a  wise  expediency  are  called  positive.  They  may 
have  been  otherwise  if  conditions  seemed  to  allow. 
Moral  laws  and  institutions  are  based  on  the  distinc- 
tions of  right  and  wrong.  Positive  laws  are  obliga- 
tory because  they  are  issued  by  competent  authority. 
Moral  laws  arc  obligatory  from  the  nature  of  things. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  69 

The  moral  obligation  of  the  Sabbath  is  based  partly 
on  man's  obligation  to  honor,  worship,  and  glorify  God 
in  every  proper  way,  and  especially  at  such  times  and 
ways  as  God  may  direct.  This  obligation  grows  out 
of  our  relations  to  him.  The  four  commandments  of 
the  first  table  are  moral  laws  in  this  sense  and  for  this 
reason.  Then  again,  the  moral  obligation  of  the  Sab- 
bath law  is  based  partly  on  the  relation  of  the  Sabbath 
to  both  God  and  man.  He  blessed  the  Sabbath  day 
and  made  it  holy.  He  gave  to  man  six  days  for  secu- 
lar work,  but  retained  a  special  ownership  in  the 
seventh.  "The  seventh  is  the  sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy 
God."  He  claims  to  be  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath."  But 
he  has  given  the  day  to  man  in  a  proper  sense  also. 
"F'or  that  I  have  given  thee  the  Sabbath  etc." ;  "The 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man  and  not  man  for  the  Sab- 
bath." Now  if  the  day  is  holy,  if  it  belongs  to  God  in 
a  special  sense,  and  if  it  is  given  to  man  for  his  special 
benefit  it  follows  that  it  would  be  dishonest  sacrilege 
to  use  it  except  as  holy.  We  have  a  definition  of  that 
holy  use  in  the  fourth  commandment  and  elsewhere  in 
the  Scriptures.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  from  the 
very  nature  of  things.  The  two  moral  elements  in  the 
Sabbath  law  are  beautifully  combined  in  Isaiah  Iviii. 

I3»  14. 

It  is  evident  therefore  that  this  law  is  in  its  exact 
place  in  the  decalogue,  which  is  a  covenant  of  univer- 
sal binding  force — a  universal  moral  code.  No  part  of 
it  originated  in  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  no  part 
passed  away  with  it — not  a  jot  or  tittle. 

The  law  of  periodic  rest  seems  to  be  a  law  of  na- 
ture. It  is  good  for  the  body  as  well  as  for  the  soul. 
Every  living  organism,  vegetable  and  animal,  has  its 
periods  of  activity  and  repose.     The  forces  in  dead 


70  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

matter  are  subject  to  the  same  law  of  activity  and  re- 
pose. It  is  now  well  understood  that  machinery  in 
constant  use  and  motion  weakens  much  more  rapidly, 
and  its  strength  is  recuperated  by  rest. 

The  soil  also  needs  rest  as  the  farmer  knows.  Un- 
der Mosaic  law  the  land  had  absolute  rest  from  culti- 
vation one  year  in  seven,  and  this  year  was  called  the 
Lord's  Sabbath  and  also  the  land's  Sabbath;  and  all 
that  grew  of  itself  that  year  was  the  Lord's  and  was 
given  by  him  to  the  poor  and  to  the  beasts  of  the  field 
and  the  fowls  of  the  air.  We  may  note  also  cessation 
from  agriculture  that  year,  and  the  occupations  of  the 
peoples  were  changed ;  culture,  education,  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  religion,  no  doubt,  occupied  old  and 
young.  Change  also  is  rest,  whether  it  be  every  seven 
days  or  every  seven  years. 

Sabbath  rest  is  necessary  to  restore  the  equilibrium 
of  man's  mental  and  moral  powers  and  faculties  as  well 
as  his  body.  Add  to  this  the  proper  exercises  of  reli- 
gion and  every  man  grows  stronger.  Neglect  rest  and 
religion  in  the  interest  of  a  material  civilization,  and 
inefficiency,  recklessness,  dishonesty,  and  vice  are  the 
necessary  result.  Thoughtful  students  of  those  indus- 
tries which  require  their  employees  to  neglect  the  Sab- 
bath, tell  us  that  the  losses  which  accrue  from  this 
cause  more  than  overbalance  all  their  Sabbath  gains  to 
say  nothing  of  the  mischievous  reaction  upon  those 
who  control  these  industries,  and  the  collateral  and  in 
direct  effect  and  results  on  all  other  pursuits.  How 
can  capital  which  violates  Sabbath  law  and  exacts 
labors  on  God's  holy  day  expect  labor  to  render  any 
faithful  conscientious  service? 

Traces  of  a  Sabbath  for  the  race  have  been  found  in 
many  parts  of  the  world,  and  especially  wherever  clivi- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  71 

sion  of  time  into  weeks  is  found.  The  Sabbath  law  in 
Babylon  was  much  more  stringent  in  details  than 
among  the  Jews,  but  it  had  little  if  any  moral  and  re- 
ligious value,  though  a  holy  day. 

Taking  all  these  things  together  we  see  that  the 
Sabbath,  as  an  institution,  is  a  law  of  nature  and  a  law 
of  God,  belongs  to  the  race,  and  spans  the  whole  arc 
of  time. 

We  shall  consider  the  continental  view  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Christian  Sabbath  or  Lord's  Day. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Christian  Sabbath  or  Lord's  Day. 

The  orthodox  or  Presbyterian  view  of  the  Sabbath 
makes  it  a  perpetual  institution  of  universal  author- 
ity; that  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  was  the  weekly 
Sabbath  till  the  resurrection  of  Christ;  and  that  the 
day  was  then  changed  by  Divine  authority  to  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons 

The  continental  view  makes  it  a  tempora.ry  Jewish 
ceremonial;  that  it  passed  away  with  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation ;  that  the  Lord's  day  is  not  a  Divine  institu- 
tion, and  is  of  no  binding  authority  from  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  that  it  was  however  for  edification  for  Christians 
to  agree  upon  a  day  for  public  worship;  that  the  first 
day  of  the  week  was  every  way  appropriate  for  such 
agreement,  in  commemoration  of  the  resurrection; 
and  that  it  was  also  proper  that  the  state  should  pass 
Sabbath  laws  in  order  to  protect  worshippers  from 
disturbance  in  their  worship ;  and  that  the  remaining 
hours  of  the  day  may  be  spent  in  social  enjoyments 
and  wholesome  public  amusements. 

This  view  has  prevailed  largely  over  the  continent 
of  Europe.  It  was  adopted  by  the  reformers  generally, 
and  seems  to  have  been  a  reaction  against  the  galling 
papal  yoke  of  holy  days,  saints  days,  etc.,  as  set  forth 
in  their  calendar.  Dr.  Bound  revived  the  orthodox 
theory  in  England,  and  archbishop  Laud  persecuted 
the  adherents  to  this  doctrine.  It  finally  prevailed  in 
England  and  was  held  in  Scotland  with  such  tenacity 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  yz 

that  it  was  called  the  Presbyterian  doctrine.  It  was 
introduced  by  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  in  the  early 
settlement  of  this  country,  and  was  ardently  embraced 
by  English  and  Huguenot  Christians,  and  the  day  was 
rigorously  observed  for  two  hundred  years.  Then 
when  emigrants  came  numerously  from  the  European 
continent  they  brought  the  continental  view  which  has 
been  steadily  gaining  ground,  reinforced  on  one  side  by 
saloons,  beer-gardens,  and  advocates  of  a  mere  holiday 
for  the  masses,  and  on  the  other  side  by  secular  and 
material  interests  which  claim  the  day  as  necessary  to 
a  successful  civilization.  They  all  make  the  general 
claim  that  we  have  outgrown  Sabbath  laws,  and  that 
the  complexity  of  our  civilization  makes  their  obser- 
vance impossible.  Sabbath  laws  are  becoming  more 
and  more  a  dead  letter  on  the  statute  books.  This  ten- 
dency is  the  more  rapid  because  the  government  sets 
the  example  in  so  many  ways. 

The  continental  view  is  argued  from  certain  pas- 
sages in  the  New  Testament  which  they  say  set  aside 
the  Sabbath  law  by  positive  enactment  or  by  neces- 
sary implication.  They  quote  Christ's  Sabbath  con- 
troversies with  the  Pharisees,  as  found  in  Matt.  xii. 
I-I2 ;  John  V.  1-16 ;  Mark  ii.  27,  28  etc.  A  careful  study 
of  these  passages  shows  that  he  expounds  the  Sabbath 
law  as  permitting  and  requiring  works  of  necessity  and 
mercy.  He  draws  his  argument  from  the  law  itself; 
he  reinforces  it  by  their  own  practice ;  he  claims  the 
right  to  expound  it  because  he  was  its  author;  besides, 
he  was  under  the  law  to  keep  it  and  expound  it,  and  not 
to  modify  it.  The  Pharisees  made  the  law  of  none 
effect  by  their  traditions,  and  they  persecuted  him  be- 
cause he  taught  its  true  meaning.     He  set  aside  their 


74  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

teachings  and  not  the  law.  Strange  that  this  has  been 
so  misunderstood. 

They  quote  Gal.  iv.  9-1 1.  "How  turn  ye  again  to 
the  weak  and  beggarly  elements,  whereunto  ye  desire 
again  to  be  in  bondage?  Ye  observe  days,  and 
months,  and  times,  and  years."  In  this  epistle  the 
apostle  combats  the  Judaizing  teachers  who  sought  to 
retain  the  Mosaic  ceremonials,  which  abounded  in  holy 
days,  months,  times,  and  years.  There  is  no  reference 
here  to  the  moral  law  which  is  summarily  comprehend- 
ed in  the  ten  commandments,  and  therefore  no  refer- 
ence to  the  weekly  Sabbath. 

They  quote  Rom.  xiv.  5,  6.  In  this  chapter  the 
apostle  argues  Christian  liberty  in  eating,  drinking,  ob- 
servance of  days,  and  such  like.  "One  man  esteemeth 
one  day  above  another;  another  esteemeth  every  day 
alike.  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind.  He  that  regardeth  the  day  regardeth  it  unto  the 
Lord;  he  that  regardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  he 
doth  not  regard  it.  He  that  eateth,  eateth  to  the  Lord, 
etc."  He  argues  Christian  liberty  in  non-essentials, 
and  does  not  touch  the  binding  force  of  any  law,  much 
less  the  decalogue. 

They  quote  also  Col.  ii.  16,  17,  and  really  stake  their 
whole  contention  upon  it.  "Let  no  man  judge  you  in 
meat  or  drink,  or  in  respect  of  a  holy  day,  or  of  the  new 
moon,  or  of  the  Sabbath  days ;  which  are  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come;  but  the  body  is  of  Christ."  No  one 
disputes  that  this,  like  the  other  passages,  signifies  the 
passing  away  of  the  Jewish  ritual.  The  revised  ver- 
sion says  "In  respect  of  a  feast  day,  or  a  new  moon,  or 
a  Sabbath."  This  does  not  alter  the  sense.  The  only 
contention  is  whether  the  weekly  Sabbath  is  included 
in  this  enumeration.     The  numerous  other  Sabbaths 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  75 

of  the  Jewish  ritual  are  certainly  included,  and  did  pass 
away.  These  were  designated  by  the  singular  term, 
"a  Sabbath,"  "my  Sabbath,"  or  by  the  plural  "Sab- 
baths," "my  Sabbaths,"  "the  Sabbaths,"  etc.,  while  the 
seventh  day  Sabbath  is  uniformly  spoken  of  as  "the 
Sabbath,"  in  contradistinction  to  other  Sabbaths,  and 
the  plural  form  is  used  only  where  there  is  actual 
reference  to  a  plural  of  two  or  more  consecutive  weekly 
Sabbaths — thus  the  plural  form  is  used  to  signify  a 
week  because  it  is  bounded  by  two  consecutive  Sab- 
baths. These  several  usages  are  evident  wherever  the 
different  kinds  of  Sabbaths  are  referred  to  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  in  the  New. 

This  exhausts  all  the  claims  made  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Sabbath  law  of  the  decalogue.  If,  however,  it 
is  insisted  that  the  Seventh  day  Sabbath  is  no  longer 
binding,  we  need  not  fear  to  grant  it  within  this  nar- 
row limit  that  the  day  has  been  changed  from  the 
seventh  to  the  first,  and  that  the  first  day  was  hence- 
forth the  Sabbath.     To  this  contention  we  now  turn. 

The  day  was  changed  by  Apostolic  usage.  The. 
apostles  had  full  power  to  set  all  things  in  order,  and 
their  usage  carried  with  it  the  authority  of  Christ  him- 
self. The  spirit  was  given  them  in  full  measure  for 
this  very  purpose.  This  does  not  mean  that  they  were 
a  senate  to  enact  new  legislation,  for  they  set  up  noth- 
ing which  had  not  already  been  provided  for  in  their 
Scriptures.  We  shall  see  later  on  that  this  change  was 
provided  for  in  the  Old  Testament.  We  note  the 
usage. 

I.  The  apostles  were  assembled  on  the  resurrection 
day — the  first  Lord's  day — and  Christ  appeared  in  the 
midst  of  them.  Jno.  xx.  19-23.  He  conferred  upon 
them  at  that  time  the  Holy  Ghost  to  qualify  them  for 


y^  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

certain  official  functions.     It  certainly  was  a  season  of 
worship  and  blessing. 

2.  They  met  again  on  the  next  first  day  of  the  week 
— Lord's  day — and  he  appeared  again  in  their  midst 
and  confirmed  the  faith  of  Thomas  who  was  absent  the 
week  before.     John  xx.  26. 

3.  It  may  be  argued  very  plausibly  that  forty  days 
in  the  Scriptures  means  six  weeks ;  if  so,  they  were  as- 
sembled on  the  seventh  Lord's  day,  and  received  his 
parting  counsel  and  promises,  and  then  witnessed  his 
ascension,  and  then  returned  to  Jerusalem  and  spent 
the  remainder  of  the  day  in  worship ;  and  perhaps,  they 
spent  the  whole  of  that  week  in  special  prayer  and 
supplication  preparatory  to  Pentecost.     Acts  i.  1-14. 

4.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  which  was  the  eighth 
Lord's  day,  they  were  all  with  one  accord  in  one  place 
— no  doubt  the  upper  room  mentioned  in  Acts  i.  13 — 
not  only  the  apostles  but  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty,  male  and  female,  i.  14,  15.  No  one  doubts  that 
they  were  at  worship  with  one  accord  when  they  were 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.  No 
Lord's  day  was  ever  so  honored  and  blessed  as  that 
one. 

5.  Paul  abode  at  Troas  seven  days,  remaining  over 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  disciples  came  together 
to  break  bread — the  Load's  supper.  Paul  preached  till 
midnight  and  administered  the  communion  and  then 
talked  till  break  of  day  and  then  departed.  Acts  xx. 
6-12. 

6.  John  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos  was  in  the  Spirit  on 
the  Lord's  day  and  received  that  wonderful  vision  of 
Christ  walking  among  the  seven  golden  candlesticks, 
and  received  that  apocalyptic  vision  recorded  in  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  'jj 

book  of  Revelation.  Great  honor  was  again  put  on 
the  day.  The  aged  disciple  in  exile  was  doubtless 
keeping  the  day  holy  in  blessed  worship,  as  had  been 
his  custom  for  fifty  years  of  his  life  since  the  resurrec- 
tion and  Pentecost. 

7.  Almsgiving  was  a  part  of  worship  in  ancient  as 
well  as  modern  times.  There  was  great  suffering 
among  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem.  Paul  directed 
the  church  at  Corinth  to  take  up  systematic  contribu- 
tions for  them  on  every  first  day  of  the  week.  We 
may  fairly  suppose  that  it  was  in  connection  with  their 
regular  stated  worship. 

We  have  then  seven  references  to  worship  on  the 
Lord's  day,  and  all  but  one  in  larger  or  smaller  assem- 
blies. We  find  in  the  history  no  references  to  such 
worship  on  any  other  day  of  the  week  in  Christian  as- 
semblies as  such.  This  fixes  the  apostolic  usage  and 
the  usage  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 

But  it  is  claimed  in  opposition  that  the  apostles 
preached  in  the  synagogues,  wherever  they  went,  on 
the  seventh  day  of  the  week.  So  they  did.  They  thus 
got  access  to  Jews  and  proselytes,  and  preached  the 
gospel  to  them  there  till  they  were  driven  out  and  the 
door  was  closed  against  them.  Paul  went  wherever 
he  could  get  a  hearing,  in  the  market  place,  on  Mars 
Hill,  before  Agrippa,  or  in  his  own  hired  house,  chained 
to  a  Roman  soldier.  But  there  is  no  reference  to 
Christian  meetings  for  worship  except  on  the  Lord's 
day.  There  is  evidence  outside  the  Scriptures  that 
some  kept  both  days  in  the  transition  period. 

This  change  was  foretold  and  provided  for  in  the 
Old  Testament.  In  Ps.  cxviii.  22-24  we  read.  "The 
stone  which  the  builders  refused  is  become  the  head- 
stone of  the  corner.     This  is  the  Lord's  doing;  it  is 


78  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

marvelous  in  our  eyes.  This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath 
made ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it."  In  Matt.  xxi. 
42-44  Christ  represents  himself  as  this  chief  corner 
stone.  Peter  says,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  "This  is  the 
stone  which  was  set  at  naught  of  you  builders,  which 
is  become  the  head  of  the  corner,"  Acts  iv.  11.  It  was 
consummated  when  he  arose  from  the  dead  the  fir<^t 
day  of  the  week.  "This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath 
made ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it."  It  is  the 
Lord's  day,  the  memorial  day  of  his  finished  work — a 
day  of  joy  and  gladness.  Such  is  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath.    The  poet  has  rendered  it 

"This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made 

He  calls  the  hours  his  own, 
Let  heaven  rejoice  and  earth  be  glad, 

And  praise  surround  the  throne." 

We  find  a  similar  warrant  for  the  change  in  Is.  Ixv.  17, 
18.  "Behold  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth : 
and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered,  nor  come  into 
mind.  But  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  forever  in  that 
which  I  create :  for  behold,  I  create  Jerusalem  a  re- 
joicing, and  her  people  a  joy."  This  is  Messianic  pro- 
phecy, as  is  evident  from  the  context,  and  from  2  Pet. 
iii.  13.  The  former  creation  was  the  material  creation : 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  are  a  spiritual 
creation,  which  is  so  superior  to  the  former  that  it  Is 
no  more  remembered.  We  rejoice  in  the  new  creation 
and  are  glad.  We  no  longer  commemorate  the  first 
creation,  but  the  second.  We  keep  the  Lord's  day — 
the  resurrection  day — in  perpetual  remembrance  of  it. 
This  exegesis  of  these  two  passages  is  sustained  by 
the  very  best  authorities. 

It  is  also  to  the  point  that  Messianic  prophecies  so 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  79 

specially  exalt  the  Sabbath.  Is.  Ivi.  2-6;  Iviii.  13,  14. 
It  has  been  argued  very  plausibly  that  it  was  entirely 
competent  to  change  the  memorial  day  for  a  sufficient 
reason,  and  in  doing  so  to  superadd  another  memorial ; 
and  that  the  Sabbath  day  was  changed  when  the  He- 
brews went  out  of  Egypt  and  that  it  was  thenceforth  a 
double  memorial ;  and  that  it  was  changed  again  at 
the  restoration  from  captivity  and  that  the  Sabbath  be- 
came a  threefold  memorial;  and  that  at  the  resurrec- 
tion it  was  again  changed ;  but  that  this  last  super- 
added memorial  of  the  resurrection  so  far  over- 
shadowed all  the  rest  as  to  leave  them  out  of  the  mind 
and  heart.  There  does  not,  however,  seem  to  be  suffi- 
cient Scripture  warrant  for  any  of  these  changes  but 
the  last. 

This  question  recurs.  Is  there  sufficient  evidence 
to  show  that  the  early  church  recognized  the  Apostolic 
usage  which  we  have  quoted,  and  adopted  the  first  day 
of  the  week  as  the  Sabbath  instead  of  the  seventh  day? 
All  post-apostolic  authorities  agree  on  this  point. 

Justin  Martyr,  the  earliest  of  the  Fathers,  wrote  in 
the  first  half  of  the  second  century.  He  affirms  the 
change  of  day,  and  the  usage  of  the  early  church,  and 
makes  an  argument  from  the  Scriptures  for  the  change 
as  against  both  Jews  and  Judaizers.  Tertullian,  Clem- 
ens of  Alexandria,  and  most  of  the  Fathers  mention 
the  change  of  day  as  a  matter  universally  recognized 
and  adopted  in  the  usage  of  the  church.  Eusebius 
argues  the  matter  very  fully.  He  wrote  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  third  century  and  first  part  of  the  fourth 
and  is  called  the  father  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Th«^ 
famous  letter  of  Pliny  the  younger  to  the  Emperor 
Trajan,  describing  the  "perverse  and  extravagant 
superstition"  of  the  Christians,  speaks  of  their  strict 


8d  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

observance  of  a  stated  day,  "stato  die."  This  was 
written  between  98  and  112,  A,  D. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Sabbath  law  is  coeval  with 
the  race  and  fundamental.  It  is  a  moral  law  in  a 
double  aspect.  It  is  in  the  decalogue  which  is  a  uni- 
versal code.  The  day  was  changed  at  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  as  is  shown  by  apostolic  usage ;  and  the 
change  was  foretold,  authorized,  and  enjoined  in  the 
Old  Testament.  The  early  church  adopted  the  change, 
as  witnessed  and  justified  by  the  early  fathers. 

The  mode  of  Sabbath  observance  is  to  be  gathered 
from  the  Old  Testament,  and  is  confirmed  by  the  New. 
"The  Sabbath  is  to  be  sanctified  by  a  holy  resting  on 
that  day  from  all  such  worldly  employments  and  re- 
creations as  are  lawful  on  other  days ;  and  spending  the 
whole  day  in  exercises  of  public  and  private  worship, 
except  so  much  as  may  be  taken  up  with  works  of 
necessity  and  mercy. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Religious  Institutions  of  Moses. 

Hebrew  institutions  were  of  Divine  origin.  By- 
courtesy  we  call  Moses  the  lawgiver,  but  God  gave 
them  to  Moses,  and  he  constructed  them,  as  he  did  the 
Tabernacle,  according  to  the  "pattern  showed"  to  him 
in  the  mount.  They  may  be  classified  into  Civil,  Social, 
and  Religious.  We  propose  to  discuss  the  Social  and 
Civil  institutions  of  the  Hebrews  in  a  separate  volume 
if  the  Lord  will.  We  propose  now  to  discuss  briefly 
their  religious  institutions,  especially  those  things 
which  were  connected  with  their  worship,  their  in- 
struction, and  their  religious  rights  and  franchises. 
These  studies  also  embrace  their  ecclesiastical  orders, 
organization,  and  revenues.  Some  of  these  discus- 
sions will  be  found  in  subsequent  chapters. 

We  may  premise  that  while  these  institutions  were 
promulgated  at  Mt.  Sinai  and  sometimes  modified  in 
their  details  afterwards  by  competent  inspired  author- 
ity, they  seem  to  have  had  a  much  earlier  origin,  both  in 
outward  forms  and  fundamental  principles.  Sinaitic 
legislation  promulgated  no  novelties,  but  formulated 
and  tabulated  in  constitutional  form  the  rights,  fran- 
chises and  duties  of  God's  people  both  before  and  after 
Sinai,  adjusting  them  all  to  changed  conditions. 

After  the  flood  the  race  made  a  new  start,  having 
the  same  religious  rites  and  forms  of  worship,  and 
probably  along  the  same  lines  in  which  they  had  failed 


82  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

before  the  flood,  with  the  lesson  of  former  apostasies 
before  them.  But  they  seem  to  have  started  on  the 
same  road  to  ruin.  Their  hierarchy  was  faUing  into 
decay.  God  therefore  raised  up  Abram  as  the  starting 
point  of  a  new  dispensation  and  made  a  covenant  with 
him  to  bless  all  nations  and  families.  His  descend- 
ants grew  into  a  numerous  people  to  whom  were  com- 
mitted the  oracles  of  God  against  the  time  of  universal 
apostasy.  It  was  theirs  to  preserve  and  perpetuate 
the  Abrahamic  covenant  and  also  to  execute  it  under 
divine  direction.  Before  Sinaitic  legislation  they  ex- 
isted only  in  the  family  or  in  wider  patriarchal  organi- 
zations. They  had  the  same  religious  doctrines  and 
practices  as  their  Father  Abraham.  At  Mt.  Sinai  the 
family  and  the  church  were  adjusted  to  the  state.  On 
the  civil  side  we  call  them  a  nation,  on  the  religious 
side  they  may  be  called  the  church.  The  Lord  Jehovah 
was  not  only  the  head  of  the  theocratic  commonwealth, 
but  he  was  the  head  of  their  hierarchy — himself  their 
High  Priest,  their  supreme  prophet  and  teacher,  and 
their  Spiritual  King.  We  are  not  now  concerned  with 
the  civil  side  of  that  people. 

All  their  religious  franchises  started  with  the  father 
or  the  patriarch,  who  was  responsible  for  the  teaching 
and  worship  in  the  family.  Every  family  was  in  close 
relations  to  the  heirarchy  of  priests  whose  functions 
were  well  defined.  Besides  there  was  a  line  of  proph- 
ets clothed  with  special  and  unique  authority.  These 
priests  and  prophets  we  shall  consider  in  the  next  two 
chapters. 

Now  all  the  religious  acts  of  patriarch,  priest, 
prophet,  public  functionary,  or  private  individual  may 
be  classed  as  worship.     This  worship  is  commonly  di- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  83 

vided  into  two  classes,  moral  or  spiritual,  and  ceremo- 
nial or  ritual  worship. 

The  moral  and  spiritual  is  the  very  essence  of  all 
worship  and  has  been  the  permanent  element  in  all  dis- 
pensations, as  it  is  to-day.  "God  is  a  spirit,  and  they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth."  Ceremonial  and  ritual  worship  was  accidental 
and  temporary,  and  designed  so  to  be.  Paul  teaches, 
in  Gal.  iii,  17,  that  the  covenant  with  Abraham  was 
spiritual  and  that  its  promises  were  in  no  wise  affected 
by  the  law  or  ritual  ingrafted  upon  it  at  Sinai,  and  he 
tells  us  again,  in  Hebrews  viii.  13,  that  the  ritual  cove- 
nant of  Sinai  had  decayed  and  waxed  old  and  was 
ready  to  pass  away.  Only  the  outward  form  or  dress 
passed  away  but  the  spiritual  remains  as  we  shall  see 
more  clearly  as  we  proceed. 

The  ceremonial  and  ritual  is  given  in  minute  detail, 
because  it  is  prophecy  in  symbol.  It  is  an  elaborate 
system  of  object  lessons.  It  was  carefully  written  out 
in  order  to  guard  against  loss  or  perversion.  Just  as 
in  written  prophecy  the  smallest  word  may  not  be 
omitted  without  marring  the  revelation,  so  the  smallest 
details  of  the  ritual  may,  and  do  have  a  spiritual  and 
prophetic  significance.  For  this  reason  the  ceremonial 
seems  to  occupy  too  much  space  and  prominence  in  the 
record,  leading  some  to  suppose  that  Hebrew  institu- 
tions were  almost  entirely  ceremonial. 

The  ritual  consisted  largely  of  types  which  were 
used  on  occasion  for  worship,  such  as  offerings,  sacri- 
fices, atonement,  thanksgiving,  intercessions,  memo- 
rials, purifying,  instructions,  and  such  like. 

God  has  put  honor  on  forms,  but  not  on  mere 
forms.  Every  religious  rite  and  ceremony  was  valu- 
able only  because  of  the  substance  represented  by  it, 


84  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

and  that  substance  we  call  the  moral  and  spiritual  part 
of  worship.  Mere  forms  were  utterly  worthless,  taught 
Isaiah.  In  his  day  formalism  was  the  great  heresy 
and  men  shamefully  substituted  the  forms  of  wor- 
ship for  the  substance.  They  offered  sacrifices  with- 
out repentance  and  faith ;  they  substituted  ablutions 
for  personal  holiness;  they  spread  forth  their  blood- 
stained hands  in  many  prayers.  In  Is.  i.  10-17  we  find 
the  most  scathing  rebuke  of  formalism  with  its  hollow 
rites  and  heartless  worship.  It  is  parallelled  only  by 
Christ  on  the  last  day  of  his  public  ministry,  when  he 
denounced  eight  woes  against  "Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites,"  for  substantially  the  same  doctrines  and 
practices. 

The  entire  discussion  of  the  Old  Testament  ritual, 
its  types  and  ceremonies,  as  found  in  the  epistle  of  the 
Hebrews,  turns  upon  the  distinctions  we  have  made. 
It  is  there  assumed  and  also  argued  that  the  blood  of 
bulls  and  goats  could  not  take  away  sin ;  that  the  ashes 
of  the  heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean  furnished  no  holi- 
ness ;  that  the  observance  of  new  moons,  and  feast  days 
and  holy  days  had  no  saving  power ;  and  so  on  through- 
out. But,  on  the  contrary,  these  were  all  the  shadow 
of  things  to  come,  and  derived  all  their  value  from  the 
substance  which  they  represented.  When  the  sub- 
stance came  the  shadow  passed  away.  A  much  fuller 
discussion  and  classification  of  types  may  be  found  in 
the  chapter  on  Typology  in  a  former  volume,  "Studies 
in  the  Life  of  Christ." 

Some  have  argued  that  types  and  symbols  were 
specially  adapted  to  instruct  a  rude  and  uncultured 
people  as  a  sort  of  halfway  stage  from  the  infancy  of 
the  race  towards  a  higher  civilization.  We  reply  to 
this  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  so-called  infancy 


Selected  Old  Testamejmt  Studies  85 

of  the  race,  but  that  the  race  fell  away  from  their  ori- 
ginal place  in  creation.  We  may  easily  find  other 
reasons  for  such  a  system  of  religious  training  and 
worship.  Teaching  by  object  lessons  is  adapted  to  all 
ages  and  peoples.  Modern  educators  are  disposed  to 
carry  it  to  extremes. 

Then  again  the  canon  of  Scripture  was  only  begun 
and  the  volume  of  written  prophecy  was  yet  to  be  writ- 
ten and  expanded,  which  was  done  when  the  Sinaitic 
Covenant  was  falling  into  disuse  and  decay.  The 
ceremonial  law  supplemented  the  partial  canon  and 
kept  all  its  lessons  before  the  eyes  of  the  people.  The 
leading  features  of  the  gospel  were  constantly  enacted 
and  reenacted  in  type  and  symbol  long  before  the 
prophets  wrote  such  historic  accounts  as  the  twenty- 
second  Psalm  and  the  fifty-first  chapter  of  Isaiah. 

Once  more ;  ritual  and  ceremonial  observances  and 
usages  were  specially  adapted  to  cultivate  prospective 
faith.  They  served  to  keep  the  essential  features  of 
the  future  gospel  in  constant  reminder,  just  as  the 
Lord's  Supper  serves  to  keep  all  that  it  represents  in 
the  eye  of  faith,  and  the  partakers  do,  in  partaking, 
feed  by  faith  upon  all  it  represents.  We  could  almost 
wish  that  we  had  many  other  similar  object  lessons 
under  the  Gospels.  But  the  Saviour  in  his  wisdom  has 
ordered  it  otherwise.  A  retrospective  faith  relies  on 
testimony.  We  have  an  authentic  written  record  of 
all  the  facts  for  our  faith  to  rest  on.  We  have  also  the 
benefit  of  the  entire  ritual  and  its  inspired  interpreta- 
tion and  the  historic  fulfillment  of  it  on  unimpeachable 
testimony.     What  more  do  we  need? 

Now  this  question  recurs.  Did  the  Hebrew  people 
imderstand  the  lessons  of  their  ceremonial  system? 
Not  all.     Do  Christian  peoples  understand  the  provis- 


86  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

ions  of  the  Gospel?  Not  all.  But  the  fault  is  not  in 
the  ritual,  on  the  one  hand,  nor  in  the  Scriptures,  on 
the  other.  The  provision  for  faith  was  ample  both  be- 
fore and  after  the  coming  of  Christ.  Still  some  insist 
that  the  rites  and  ceremonies  were  not  understood  and 
were  not  expected  to  be.  If  not,  then  they  were  at  best 
arbitrary  forms  of  remedial  power  outside  of  the  intel- 
ligence and  their  efficacy  depended  on  obedient  obser- 
vance. Was  it  so?  The  human  mind  cannot  and  will 
not  so  stultify  itself,  and  that  for  fifteen  hundred  years. 
If  their  ignorance  was  too  gross  to  understand  the  true 
significance  and  value  of  their  typology,  they  must  of 
necessity  invent  false  interpretations,  reducing  the 
whole  to  the  level  of  mere  superstitious  conceits. 
Christ  vindicates  the  absolute  sufficiency  of  those  in- 
stitutions ;  "If  they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  Proph- 
ets, neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead."  He  stakes  all  his  claims  on  the  Old 
Testament ;  "Search  the  Scriptures,  in  them  ye  think 
ye  have  eternal  life.  They  are  they  which  testify  of 
me." 

Ample  provision  was  made  for  expounding  these 
rites  and  showing  their  true  significance  and  value. 
Parents  and  prophets,  priests  and  Levites  were  the  ex- 
pounders. Inspiration  played  no  unimportant  part  in 
popular  teaching.  Inspired  prophets  had  this  com- 
mission, to  vindicate  the  truth  against  all  comers.  The 
High  Priest  had  the  oracle  by  virtue  of  his  office  and 
the  ecclesiastical  system  culminated  in  him  both  for 
doctrine  and  practice. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  say  that  Moses'  religious 
institutions  can  not  be  called  a  ceremonial  system  as 
opposed  to  spiritual,  but  that  its  sole  value  consisted  in 
its   spiritual   import.     More   than   this,   the   provision 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  87 

made  by  Moses  for  spiritual  instruction  and  worship 
vastly  preponderated  over  the  ceremonial.  The  latter 
was  local  and  occasional.  It  was  limited  to  the  Taber- 
nacle and  then  to  the  temple.  The  mass  of  the  people 
had  but  little  concern  with  the  daily  ritual.  The  males 
were  required  to  attend  the  great  feasts  three  times  a 
year  while  the  women  went  as  they  found  it  conven- 
ient. Much  of  the  temple  liturgy  and  its  imposing 
pantomime  worship  had  a  national  aspect  and  was  not 
personal  except  as  every  man  was  a  citizen. 

The  other  forty-nine  Sabbaths  were  kept  in  the 
homes.  All  the  details  of  family  religion  were  found 
there  with  no  trace  of  the  ceremonial.  They  rejoiced 
in  the  teaching  of  Levites  and  prophets,  reinforced  by 
traditionary  truths  and  a  partial  canon.  Compare 
Levit.  XXV.  1-7 ;  and  Duet.  vi.  6-9. 

The  spiritual  character  of  the  moral  law  in  all  its 
applications  is  as  obvious  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  The  spiritual  character  of  the  Psalms  is  ob- 
vious to  the  most  careless  reader.  Some  of  the  critics 
claim  that  the  intense  spiritual  character  of  the  fifty- 
first  Psalm  would  have  been  an  anachronism  in  David's 
Day,  and  was  therefore  of  post-exilic  authorship.  The 
prayers  of  the  O.  T.  Saints  are  models  of  spirituality  to 
this  day — instance,  Solomon's  prayer  when  dedicating 
the  temple. 

Men  have  sought  in  vain  to  smirch  the  truth,  spirit- 
uality and  holiness  of  the  Old  Testament  in  compari- 
son with  the  New.  But  Christ  and  his  Apostles  bring 
all  their  teaching  to  the  standard  and  test  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  rightly  understood,  or  rather  to 
their  obvious  and  accepted  interpretation. 

May  we  not  therefore  say  that  the  Old  Testament 
Church  was  probably  as  pure,  holy,  and  spiritual  and  as 


88  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

faithful  as  the  Christian  Church.  At  any  rate  we  may 
safely  compare  Jewdom  for  fifteen  hundred  years  and 
Christendom  for  the  same  period.  Both  dispensations 
have  been  sadly  marred  by  the  same  or  similar  heresies 
and  evil  practices  and  apostasies. 


CHAPTER  X 

Ministers  of  Religion — The  Priesthood. 

The  religious  system  of  the  race  was  patriarchal  be- 
fore the  time  of  Moses ;  and  so  was  their  civil  system. 
The  father,  the  head  of  the  house,  was  prophet,  priest, 
and  king,  and  was  to  this  extent  a  type  of  Christ.  He 
was  the  teacher  of  his  family  and  offered  sacrifices  as 
we  see  from  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  and  from  the 
story  of  Job.  He  was  responsible  for  the  conduct  and 
worship  of  his  family  including  children,  slaves,  and 
guests,  as  we  see  from  the  fourth  commandment. 

Every  priest  had  divine  access,  revelations  and  com- 
munications, as  we  see  also  from  the  history  of  these 
family  priests.  This  access  we  call  the  oracle.  This 
fact  is  often  overlooked.  But  it  is  true  historically, 
from  Abraham  to  Caiaphas,  that  the  oracle  belonged  to 
the  priest  by  virtue  of  his  office.  We  do  not  see  how 
he  could  be  a  mediator  without  it. 

There  are  indications  that  there  was  a  hierarchy 
from  the  beginning  and  certainly  in  Abraham's  day  and 
later  on,  in  which  hierarchy  the  family  priests  were 
subordinate  as  we  plainly  see  from  the  story  of  Abra- 
ham and  Melchizedeck.  Paul  so  understood  it  as  we 
see  from  Hebrews  vi.  It  seems  evident  also  that  Poti- 
pherah  priest  of  On,  Jethro  of  Midian,  and  even 
Balaam,  were  high  priests  in  this  hierarchy. 

Under  this  system  the  family  was  the  local  church 
and  the  place  of  worship  was  the  home,  tent  or  family 
roof-tree.  Each  congregation  grew  larger  as  the 
family  expanded  into  tribes  with  subdivisions  along 


90  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

family  lines.  Every  firstborn  son  was  holy  to  the  Lord 
succeeding  his  father  in  some  form  of  ofiicial  responsi- 
bility for  the  teaching  and  the  worship  of  those  under 
him.  It  may  help  us  to  understand  these  conditions  to 
note  that  even  among  pagans  we  find,  far  and  wide, 
altars  in  every  home  and  religious  rites  derived  evi- 
dently from  a  common  tradition  of  that  old  patriarchal 
system. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  the  legislation 
at  Sinai.  We  are  not  now  concerned  with  social  and 
civil  legislation,  and  the  adjustment  of  the  family  and 
the  tribe  to  the  state.  This  presents  a  study  of  great 
importance  for  a  right  understanding  of  the  principles 
of  good  government  and  sound  statesmanship  as  em- 
bodied in  God-given  civil  institutions.  We  are  con- 
cerned now  with  the  religious  institutions  of  Moses, 
and  the  ministers  of  religion. 

We  learn  from  Numbers  iii.  39-47,  that  God  com- 
manded Moses  and  Aaron  to  number  the  males  of  the 
tribe  of  Levi  from  one  month  old  and  upward  ;  and  then 
to  number  the  first  born  of  the  other  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel  from  one  month  old  and  upward.  There  were 
twenty-two  thousand  males  in  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and 
there  were  twenty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-three  of  the  first  born  of  all  Israel.  And  God 
took  these  Levites  in  exchange  for  the  first  born  of  Is- 
rael, man  for  man,  and  the  excess  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-three  were  redeemed  with  five  shekels  of  the 
Sanctuary  each.  This  exchange  transferred  the 
priestly  functions  of  the  firstborn  to  the  tribe  of  Levi. 
The  priesthood  and  the  oracle  which  was  the  birth- 
right of  the  firstborn  in  the  family  was  taken  away  and 
lodged  in  the  tribe  of  Levi.  The  patriarchal  system  of 
worship  was  modified  to  this  extent  and  no  further,  ex- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  91 

cept  as  the  Levites  became,  in  time,  religious  teachers 
to  assist  in  the  spiritual  home  worship  of  all  the  people. 
The  numbers  of  each  would  indicate  that  the  Levites 
were  a  small  tribe,  probably  about  one  fiftieth  of  the 
entire  people. 

This  change  seemed  to  be  revolutionary  in  the  last 
degree.  It  seemed  to  take  away  the  most  precious 
family  heritage  of  the  ages.  We  need  not  therefore  be 
surprised  that  the  people  did  not  submit  to  it  quietly 
though  they  ought  to  have  known  that  Moses  acted  by 
divine  authority  in  making  the  change.  Their  dissat- 
isfaction culminated  in  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan, 
and  Abiram  which  was  the  most  extraordinary  and 
protracted  struggle  recorded  in  their  history  in  the 
wilderness. 

We  sometimes  overlook  the  fact  that  the  rebellions 
in  the  wilderness  were  not  mere  puerile  and  foolish 
whims  and  dissatisfactions,  nor  were  the  punishments 
out  of  proportion  to  their  offences.  A  careful  study 
tells  of  great  principles  supposed  to  be  at  stake,  and  of 
the  necessity  of  a  powerful  vindication  of  authority 
and  truth.     Such  was  the  case  in  this  great  rebellion. 

It  was  headed  by  the  three  men  named,  and  second- 
ed by  two  hundred  and  fifty  princes  of  the  Assembly, 
nearly  half  of  the  great  National  Assembly.  They 
said  that  Moses  and  Aaron  took  too  much  upon  them- 
selves, and  that  the  whole  congregation  was  holy — had 
equal  right  to  perform  priestly  functions.  God  brought 
the  matter  to  three  several  tests  before  the  people  were 
satisfied.     We  may  tell  the  story  briefly. 

I.  Who  might  burn  incense?  Aaron  took  his  cen- 
sor, fire  and  incense  and  stood  on  one  side ;  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  princes  took  censors,  fire  and  incense  on 


92  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

the  other.  While  they  thus  stood  burning  incense  in 
full  view  of  all  the  people  the  earth  opened  and  swal- 
lowed up  Korah,  Dathan  and  Abiram,  their  families, 
their  tents,  their  flocks  and  their  herds  and  all  their 
possessions ;  and  there  came  out  fire  from  the  Lord 
(out  from  the  inner  tabernacle)  and  consumed  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men  that  burned  incense. 

2,  On  the  next  day  the  remainder  of  the  Assembly 
arraigned  Moses  and  Aaron  charging  that  they  had 
killed  the  children  of  the  Lord.  The  divine  glory  over- 
shadowed and  protected  them  before  the  tabernacle, 
and  the  plague  started  and  was  sweeping  across  the 
camp ;  and  Moses  bade  Aaron  to  make  haste  with  his 
censor  of  burning  incense  and  stand  between  the  living 
and  the  dead ;  and  the  plague  was  stayed.  Fourteen 
thousand  seven  hundred  perished  by  the  plague. 
Aaron  was  again  vindicated,  but  at  a  fearful  cost. 

3.  Then  God  offered  them  a  more  peaceful  test — 
twelve  rods,  one  for  each  tribe,  and  one  for  Aaron,  all 
laid  up  before  the  Lord,  within  the  vail ;  and  Aaron's 
rod  budded  overnight  and  bore  buds,  and  flowers,  aril 
almonds.  So  was  the  Aaronic  priesthood  vindicated 
a  third  time.  And  the  people  were  assured  that  all  the 
risk  and  danger  and  responsibility  of  holy  things  were 
transferred  to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  All  of  which  we  find 
in  Numbers  chapters  xvi.  and  xvii. 

Thus  the  tribe  of  Levi  became  a  divinely  appointed 
religious  class  or  caste,  divided  into  two  orders,  priests 
and  Levites.  We  might  call  them  a  priestly  caste  be- 
cause of  the  intimate  relations  of  the  two  orders  and 
their  respective  duties. 

The  priesthood  proper  was  limited  to  Aaron  and 
his  descendants.     He  was  high  priest  because  of  du- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  93 

ties  and  functions  limited  to  him,  and  also  because  in 
him  was  vested  a  supreme  judicial  jurisdiction  in  mat- 
ters religious  and  ecclesiastical.  In  this  capacity  of 
supreme  judge  he  had  direct  access  to  God  for  divine 
guidance  through  the  oracle ;  and  so  with  all  high 
priests  after  him.  The  ordinary  priest  had  access  to 
the  oracle  only  through  him. 

To  the  priesthood  was  committed  the  administra- 
tion of  the  elaborate  ritual,  ceremonial,  and  typological 
system  of  worship  as  found  in  the  books  of  Moses  and 
codified  at  Mt.  Sinai.  In  the  course  of  time  they  be- 
came more  numerous  and  their  duties  became  more 
numerous  because  of  the  increasing  population.  David 
divided  them  into  twenty-four  courses,  each  to  serve  at 
the  temple,  one  week,  in  rotation,  distributing  their 
several  duties  by  lot  at  every  return  of  service.  Thus 
each  course  served  two  weeks  in  each  year.  Their 
homes  were  in  forty-eight  Levitical  cities,  along  with 
the  Levites.  How  did  they  spend  the  other  fifty  weeks 
of  the  year?  Surely  not  in  idleness.  They  derived 
their  support  from  the  tithe  and  were  not  expected  to 
engage  in  agriculture  or  commerce  or  in  other  secular 
vocations.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they 
were  the  educators  of  the  people  along  with  the 
Levites  proper. 

The  high  priest  also  had  certain  civil  functions  such 
as  discerning  leprosy  in  persons  and  houses,  and  pro- 
nouncing them  clean  or  unclean,  and  in  diagnosing  va- 
rious forms  of  disease.  From  Joshua  down  through 
the  Theocracy  the  civil  ruler  had  access  to  the  oracle 
through  the  high  priest  for  his  instruction  and  guid- 
ance. 

There  seem  to  have  been  gradations  in  the  Jewish 


94  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

liierarchy  other  than  priest  and  high  priest,  for  we  read 
of  chief  priests  in  the  later  history  but  it  is  not  easy  to 
ascertain  when  these  gradations  originated. 

There  were  vestments  appointed  for  priests  and 
high  priests  which  they  wore  when  engaged  in  official 
duties — regalia  of  office.  There  may  have  been  some 
distinctions  of  dress  regularly  worn  to  indicate  official 
position,  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain.  The  ephod  of 
the  high  priest  is  constantly  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  high  priest  and  the  oracle,  and  the  urim,  or  the 
urim  and  thummin  was  also  worn  upon  it  whenever  he 
would  stand  before  the  Lord  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  and  needless  mys- 
tery about  this  breastplate.  The  surface  view  is  this. 
The  breastplate  was  a  span  square  of  doubled  linen 
and  on  it  were  twelve  precious  stones,  all  different.  On 
each  of  these  was  written  the  name  of  a  tribe  of  Israel, 
all  of  whom  the  high  priest  represented  when  standing 
before  the  Lord.  These  stones  were  set  in  gold  and 
arranged  in  rows  on  the  breastplate  and  it  was  fastened 
by  rings,  chains  and  catches  of  gold  on  the  breast  of 
the  ephod.  The  name  of  this  most  beautiful  breast- 
plate seems  to  have  been  "Urim  and  Thummin,"  which 
may  be  rendered  "Lights  and  Perfections" — a  most  fit- 
ting representation  of  the  divine  glory  reflected  in  his 
chosen  people.  We  hear  nothing  of  this  breastplate 
after  the  captivity,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
necessary  to  the  oracle. 

The  Levites  were  far  more  numerous  than  the 
priests.  They  were  primarily  the  priests'  assistants. 
They  had  charge  of  the  tabernacle  and  its  furniture, 
and  afterward  had  charge  of  the  temple  area  and  per- 
formed  many   duties   in   connection    with    the   temple 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  95 

worship  and  administration.  They  were  classified  by 
David  according  to  their  families,  divided  into  courses 
and  assigned  to  many  lines  of  service  in  a  most  syste- 
matic way.  They  were  made  singers,  porters,  judges, 
expounders  of  the  law,  teachers,  genealogists  and  roll 
keepers,  and  such  like. 

The  whole  tribe  of  Levi  was  exempt  from  military- 
duty.  Moses  did  not  include  them  in  his  military  cen- 
sus because  of  more  important  duties.  They  had  no 
political  status  and  no  tribal  allegiance.  Their  civil 
rights  and  duties  were  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  they 
were  appointed  to  religious  service  to  the  twelve  tribes. 
Ministers  of  religion  in  most  countries  have  enjoyed 
similar  exemption  from  military  service  and  many 
other  civil  burdens  for  similar  reasons. 

The  support  of  these  religious  orders  was  a  divinely 
appointed,  but  voluntary,  tithe  of  all  the  increase  of  the 
twelve  tribes  whom  they  served.  This  tithe  we  shall 
discuss  in  another  chapter.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that 
this  tithe  was  voluntary,  not  enforced,  self-assessed, 
often  withheld  or  partially  paid,  and  depended,  on  one 
side,  on  the  spirituality  of  the  giver  and,  on  the  other, 
it  depended  largely  on  the  official  fidelity  and  consecra- 
tion of  priests  and  Levites. 

Under  this  system  of  support  priestly  domination 
was  prevented,  while  most  other  ancient  and  modern 
peoples  as  well,  have  been  sadly  cursed  with  it. 

We  may  note  here  the  wisdom  of  appointing  a  here- 
ditary, cultured  religious  caste,  with  no  civil  authority 
and  with  a  voluntary  support.  They  had  ample  time 
and  opportunity,  "free  from  worldly  cares  and  avoca- 
tions," to  administer  their  elaborate  ritual  and  to  ex- 
pound its  full  significance  to  all  the  people.  But  even 
more  important  than  all  this  was  the  wider  teaching 
and  pastoral  work  throughout  the  land. 


96  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

This  hereditary  caste,  cut  off  from  the  industrial 
vocations  and  supported  by  the  gifts  of  the  people,  had 
ample  leisure  for  learning  and  culture  to  fit  them  for 
the  duties  of  their  high  calling.  The  distinction  of  the 
spiritual  and  the  secular  was  not  exactly  as  we  have  it 
to-day.  This  cultured  class  largely  filled  all  the  pro- 
fessions, some  of  which  we  call  secular.  With  them 
education  was  a  soul  function  and  was  therefore  reli- 
gious. Indeed  this  has  been  the  doctrine  of  the  ages 
and  of  all  peoples,  until  recent  times.  No  church  in 
Christendom  has  yet  surrendered  it  in  the  face  of  the 
aggressive  doctrine  that  education  is  and  ought  to  be  1 
purely  secular  function,  and  that  the  State  is  the  true 
educator.  In  this  competition  of  church  and  State  the 
odds  are  largely  in  favor  of  the  State  with  taxation, 
free  education,  and  public  patronage  behind  her,  while 
the  church  can  rely  only  on  the  loyal  voluntary  support 
of  her  sons. 

Some  have  criticised  this  religious  caste  because  it 
was  hereditary  and  therefore  lacked  the  spirituality  of 
a  personal  call  and  recognized  qualifications.  To  this 
we  reply  that  the  evils  of  a  hereditary  succession  are 
not  so  great  as  might  appear.  It  has  been  the  rule  in 
all  ages  for  the  son  to  follow  the  father's  calling,  not  in 
a  haphazard  way,  but  he  is  trained  for  it  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions.  This  has  been  true  in  all 
stable  conditions  of  society  and  permanent  civiliza- 
tions. lUit  in  the  flux  of  a  rapidly  changing  material 
civilization  like  ours  the  opportunities  for  personal  am- 
bitions and  promotions  somewhat  obscure  the  rule ; 
but  it  only  furnishes  a  larger  number  of  exceptions.  It 
has  been  computed  that  hundreds  of  the  descendants  of 
John  Knox  have  been  preachers,  hundreds  more  have 
been  elders  and  deacons,  and  hundreds  more  will  yet 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  97 

fill  these  offices  under  the  operation  of  this  rule.  Mod- 
ern science  claims  far  more  for  heredity  than  we  may 
concede,  but  it  vindicates  the  Divine  methods  of  ad- 
ministration. 

We  have  another  and  a  better  reply  to  the  critic. 
The  obvious  evils  of  a  hereditary  system  were  correct- 
ed by  the  prophetical  order.  These  prophets  were  per- 
sonally commissioned  by  God  himself,  and  by  their  in- 
spired teaching  they  corrected  as  far  as  possible  the 
aberrations  of  parent,  priest  and  Levite.  Such  were 
the  checks  and  balances  of  their  system. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Ministers  of  Religion — The  Prophets. 

The  prophet  of  the  Scriptures  is  one  who  speaks  for 
God.  The  Greek  word  in  the  New  Testament  signi- 
fies one  who  speaks  for  another.  The  Hebrew  word 
used  in  the  Old  Testament  means  a  mouth-piece,  a 
spokesman — one  who  utters  an  accredited  message. 
Sometimes  it  means  a  fore-teller — or  a  legate,  one 
chosen  to  speak — or  an  interpreter,  one  who  expounds 
and  elaborates  his  message.  The  prophet  represented 
a  God,  either  the  true  or  a  false  God.  Moses  was 
God's  prophet  and  we  read  of  prophets  of  Baal.  Every 
prophet  claimed  inspiration  for  his  message.  "Holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  2  Pet.  i.  21.  Inspiration  was  the  differentiat- 
ing element  to  distinguish  a  prophet  from  other  teach- 
ers. The  prophets^  of  false  Gods  were  called  false 
prophets  because  they  had  no  real  inspiration,  no  mat- 
ter how  much  they  might  claim  it,  nor  how  true  their 
utterances  might  be.  The  word  prophet  is  used  only 
once  to  signify  a  man's  mouth-piece  or  spokesman. 
God  said  to  Moses  thou  shalt  be  my  prophet,  and 
Aaron  shall  be  thy  prophet,  and  thou  shall  be  a  God 
unto  him.  Even  here  Moses  transmitted  an  inspired 
message  through  Aaron  as  his  spokesman.  Aaron  had 
the  inspiration  through  an  intermediary. 

Prophets  were  accredited  messengers  from  the 
Lord.  There  was  no  room  for  mistake  for  they  wrought 
miracles  of  power  or  knowledge,  which  could  not  be 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  99 

contested.  False  prophets  could  furnish  only  "lying 
wonders."  Prophets  representing  false  Gods  were 
prima  facie  false  prophets,  though  they  were  some- 
times brought  to  the  test,  as  when  Elijah  tested  the 
claims  of  Baal  and  his  prophets  at  Mount  Carmel.  i 
Kings  xviii. 

Other  false  prophets  claimed  to  speak  messages  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  but  were  exposed  when  brought 
to  the  test  of  predictive  prophecy.  Instance  the  four 
hundred  false  prophets  of  the  Lord  on  one  side,  and  the 
one  true  prophet,  Micaiah,  on  the  other  side,  before 
Ahab  and  Jehoshaphat.  And  Micaiah  said,  "If  thou  at 
all  return  in  peace  then  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken  by 
me."     I  Kings  xxii.     5-38. 

If  it  be  true  that  inspiration  is  the  differentiating 
element  of  prophecy,  and  the  prophet  always  needed 
attestation,  and  if  the  Lord  always  stood  beside  the 
prophet  ready  to  certify  to  the  messenger  and  his  mes- 
sage, then  there  is  scant  room  for  the  modern  idea  that 
the  prophet  was  a  mere  religious  teacher,  and  that  reli- 
gious teachers  to-day  are  prophets  in  the  Bible  sense. 
It  is  true  that  the  modern  preacher  has  a  message,  a 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  but  it  is  only  a  quotation  from 
a  real  prophet's  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  The  preach- 
er's exposition  of  his  message  is  limited  by  his  own  in- 
telligent apprehension  of  it;  but  the  real  prophet  ex- 
pounded and  delivered  his  message  with  inerrant  cer- 
tainty, whether  he  comprehended  it  or  not.  It  is  im- 
possible to  show  that  there  were  two  orders  of  proph- 
ets in  the  olden  time,  one  inspired  and  the  other  not. 
The  attempt  to  make  this  distinction  is  only  a  part  of 
the  larger  and  more  vicious  attempt  to  minimize  the 
supernatural  and  to  reduce  inspiration  to  the  level  of  a 
mere  human  intelligence  and  to  naturalistic  processes. 


loo  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

There  were  two  kinds  of  prophecy,  predictive  pro 
phecy,  and  inspired  teaching,  whether  spoken  or  writ- 
ten. The  volume  of  predictive  prophecy,  as  found  in 
the  Scriptures  is  large,  embracing  Messianic  prophecy 
in  full  detail,  and  also  a  large  amount  of  predictive 
prophecy  touching  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations  and  the 
destinies  of  the  race.  It  may  be  rightfully  argued  that 
the  history  of  the  Jews  and  the  fulfillment  of  pro- 
phecies concerning  them  from  their  beginning  down  to 
the  present  day,  are  so  conclusive  that  every  candid 
mind  must  accept  all  else  that  is  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

Another  word  as  to  the  position  of  prophets  in  Jew- 
ish institutions.  They  formed  no  part  of  the  hierarchy. 
They  held  no  official  position.  They  were  clothed 
with  no  authority,  civil,  religious,  judicial,  or  social. 
They  were  divinely  raised  up  on  occasion  to  discharge 
certain  functions,  whenever  and  wherever  needed,  un- 
der divine  guidance  and  direction.  The  call  and  com- 
mission was  entirely  personal  and  they  had  no  sort  of 
organization  or  freemasonry  among  themselves  so  as 
to  form  guilds  and  associations.  Indeed  the  service 
rendered  seems  to  have  been  sporadic  and  occasional. 
Some  of  them  seem  to  have  been  regularly  engaged  in 
teaching  in  the  schools  of  the  prophets. 

A  succession  of  prophets  was  promised  like  unto 
Moses,  raised  up  by  God,  and  clothed  with  authority 
to  speak  for  him.  On  them  he  put  the  responsibility  of 
speaking,  and  on  the  people  the  responsibility  of  hear- 
ing, all  enforced  by  providential  sanctions. 

By  comparing  Deut.  xviii.  15-19  and  Acts  iii.  29,  we 
find  that  the  line  of  prophets  culminated  in  Christ.  He 
is  the  true  prophet  and  all  who  went  before  were  types 
of  him.  They  represented  him  and  spake  by  his 
authority  and  in  his  name.     Acts  vii.  37-38. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  loi 

The  prophets  were  sometimes  very  numerous,  or 
seemingly  more  numerous  than  at  other  times.  In 
some  periods  of  the  history  there  is  but  Httle  mention 
of  them,  probably  because  there  was  no  occasion  to 
mention  them.  In  the  same  way  there  are  periods  of 
the  history  when  there  is  small  mention  of  the  priests 
and  Levites.  This  does  not  prove  there  were  very  few 
of  them.  This  is  notably  true  of  the  period  of  the 
Judges. 

Some  assert  that  the  prophetic  order  started  with 
Samuel.  But  Medad  and  Eldad  prophesied  in  the 
camp  in  Moses'  day.  A  "man  of  God"  (a  prophet) 
came  to  Eli  and  reproved  him  for  misgovernment  of 
his  family,  and  foretold  the  punishment.  In  Saul's 
day  he  fell  twice  into  companies  of  prophets  and  took 
part  in  their  ecstacies.  Samuel  and  Saul  overlapped 
each  other.  Besides  this,  the  schools  of  the  prophets 
were  in  full  blast  as  if  they  were  old  institutions  in 
Saul's  day. 

These  schools  of  the  prophets  were  at  Ramah, 
Bethel,  Gilgal  and  Jericho.  Samuel  seems  to  have 
kept  in  touch  with  them  in  his  judicial  circuit.  These 
were  permanent  institutions  though  we  find  no  men- 
tion of  them  again  until  the  time  of  Elijah  and  Elisha. 
There  must  have  been  large  numbers  of  these  prophets, 
"sons  of  prophets,"  attending  these  schools.  We  read 
of  fifty  from  one  of  the  schools  watching  for  the  trans- 
lation of  Elijah.  They  seemed  to  know  of  it  in  ad- 
vance by  some  form  of  inspiration.  They  lived  in 
"Naioth"  or  dormitories  and  were  in  evident  training 
for  their  lifework.  From  all  which  we  get  this  lesson, 
that  God  did  not  ignore  proper  culture  and  training  in 
those  upon  whom  he  conferred  these  exalted  functions. 
Christ  also  prepared  the  twelve  for  their  great  com- 
mission in  three  and  a  half  years  of  training. 


I02  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

There  were  at  one  time  five  hundred  prophets  in 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  its  apostate  days,  for  Jezebel 
slew  four  hundred,  and  Obadiah  hid  one  hundred  by 
fifties  in  a  cave,  and  Elijah  was  in  hiding.  We  need 
hardly  quote  i  Kings  xviii.  4;  2  Kings  ii.  3,  5,  7;  iv.  i, 
38;  I  Sam.  xix.  18-24  to  confirm  these  statements. 

They  seem  to  have  had  two  functions,  Civil  and 
Moral  or  spiritual. 

In  their  civil  functions  they  were  the  organ  of  com- 
munication between  Jehovah  and  the  human  heads  of 
the  theocracy,  whether  judges  or  kings.  In  the  theo- 
cracy the  king  or  ruler  was  only  a  viceroy  or  deputy  of 
the  real  King  Jehovah.  There  must  needs  be  a  means 
of  communication.  One  was  through  the  high  priest 
and  the  oracle.  A  check  was  needed  on  both  king  and 
high  priest.  The  prophet  was,  so  to  speak,  a  minister 
plenipotentiary  and  extraordinary  from  the  court  of 
heaven  to  its  earthly  representative — more  often  sent 
than  consulted.  All  reproofs,  rebukes,  and  vetoes 
seemed  to  come  in  this  way,  and  also  frequent  instruc- 
tions as  to  duty  when  the  ruler  failed  to  seek  them. 
The  king  therefore  had  two  sources  of  securing  the 
divine  guidance,  prophet  and  oracle,  i  Kings  xxii.  7; 
2  Kings  iii.  ii ;  i  Sam.  ix.  6-20. 

In  their  moral  or  spiritual  function  they  were  in- 
spired teachers  of  righteousness  and  expounders  of  the 
law.  They  added  nothing  to  Mosaic  institutions. 
They  were  under  them,  not  as  law  givers,  but  law  ex- 
pounders, just  as  Christ  was  long  afterwards.  They 
were  "restorers  of  the  old  paths"  in  times  of  declension 
or  apostasy.  We  need  only  read  Isaiah,  Ezekiel  or 
Malachi  to  verify  this. 

If  there  was  any  provision  made  for  the  support  of 
the  prophets  we  have  not  been  able  to  find  it.     They 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  103 

were  only  private  citizens  having  no  civil  or  ecclesias- 
tical status.  There  is  evidence  that  they  were  sup- 
ported in  part,  at  least,  by  grateful  gifts,  and  private 
hospitality  and  charity,  as  was  the  case  with  Christ  and 
his  disciples.  We  may  cite  the  case  of  Saul  the  son  of 
Kis  consulting  Samuel;  also  the  case  of  Elijah  and  the 
widow  of  Sarepta,  and  also  of  Elisha  and  the  prophet's 
chamber. 

The  prophets  then  occupied  a  most  important  place 
in  supplementing  a  partial  canon  with  their  teaching. 
They  also  supplemented  the  teachings  of  parents  and 
Levites  in  ritual  and  spiritual  worship.  The  Church  of 
Christ  no  longer  needs  the  prophetic  function,  because 
the  canon  is  complete.  All  heresies  have  been  met  and 
refuted,  all  apostasies  have  been  exposed  and  the  truth 
has  been  amply  expounded  and  vindicated.  We  have 
the  written  record  of  it  all. 

Some  of  these  prophets  completed  the  Old  Testa- 
ment canon  under  divine  direction.  Some  wrote  his- 
tory. Some  wrote  predictive  prophecy.  Some  wrote 
the  prophetico-historical  books.  Some  wrote  songs, 
spiritual  and  didactic,  and  songs  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving. Some  discussed  the  profoundest  questions  of 
the  ages  as  found  in  the  book  of  Job  and  other  places. 
Some  dealt  with  the  most  difficult  speculations  of  the 
skeptic  as  found  in  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes ;  and  some 
applied  the  principles  of  a  sound  morality  to  the  ethics 
of  every  day  life  as  confirmed  by  experience,  as  in  the 
book  of  Proverbs.  It  may  well  be  questioned  if  the 
Christian  world  has  attached  sufficient  importance  to 
the  "Wisdom"  books  of  the  Bible,  which  were  so  elabo- 
rated by  the  prophets  that  they  can  never  be  improved 
upon  and  nothing  can  ever  be  added  thereto. 

Even  then  when  the  prophets  were  writing  it  was 


104  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

true  that  there  was  "nothing  new  under  the  sun." 
They  only  recovered,  redefined,  restored,  defended, 
elaborated  and  applied  the  doctrines  of  the  ages  and 
wrote  them  out  to  insure  permanence  for  all  ages  to 
come.  Was  not  their  predictive  prophecy  new?  Yes, 
in  some  of  the  details  in  their  historic  unfolding.  But 
the  substance  was  only  the  reproduction  in  verbal 
categories  of  those  truths  which  had  been  so  long  ex- 
pressed in  type  and  shadow  and  expounded  by  priest 
and  prophet. 

The  great  expansion  of  written  prophecy  was  made 
necessary  by  the  permanent  dispersion,  and  by  the  nar- 
rowing limitations  and  the  decay  of  the  ritual  system 
soon  to  pass  away. 

We  have  already  noted  that  there  were  many  false 
prophets.  There  never  yet  was  any  good  thing  that 
sin  and  Satan  did  not  counterfeit.  There  were  even 
many  false  Christs  in  the  first  Century  and  some  since. 
So  there  were  many  false  prophets.  False  religions 
have  abounded  in  prophets,  false  ipso  facto.  Jezebel 
had  four  hundred  and  fifty  prophets  of  Baal  and  four 
hundred  prophets  of  the  grove. 

False  prophets  often  wore  a  "rough  garment  to  de- 
ceive." Zech.  xiii.  4.  This  indicates  that  true  proph- 
ets practiced  some  asceticism.  Elijah  was  an  ascetic 
in  dress,  and  John  the  Baptist  was  an  ascetic  in  dress 
and  diet.  Nazarite  vows  were  not  at  all  uncommon 
and  were  commended. 

All  Jews  were  forbidden,  however,  cuttings  in  their 
flesh  after  the  manner  of  the  heathen  who  tattooed 
their  flesh  with  all  manner  of  devices,  suggested  by 
their  callings  in  life,  or  armorial  bearings  of  the  family 
or  clan,  or  the  still  more  prized  symbols  of  their  wor- 
ship and  of  their  gods.     Their  priests  and  prophets 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  105 

were  largely  tattooed  with  the  symbols  of  their  worship, 
often  inexpressibly  lewd  and  base,  and  were  accounted 
most  holy  as  they  excelled  in  these  things. 

These  facts  explain  the  reference  in  Zech.  xiii.  2-6,, 
The  prophet  represents  that  the  false  prophets,  in  the 
day  of  retribution,  would  deny  their  calling  and  claim 
that  their  idolatrous  tattooings  were  nothing  but 
family  or  clan  marks. 

The  punishment  for  the  false  prophet  was  death. 
The  crime  was  so  heinous  that  neither  father  nor 
mother  should-  spare  him,  nor  should  any  friend,  but 
should  deliver  him  to  death  without  pity.  So  Zeche- 
riah  expresses  it,  xiii.  3.  "His  father  and  his  mother 
that  begat  him  shall  thrust  him  through  when  he  pro- 
phesieth."  False  prophecy  was  treason..  Treason  is 
the  highest  crime  against  the  state.  The  false  prophet 
sought  either  to  pervert  the  theocracy  to  his  own  usur- 
pations, or  else  to  overthrow  it  in  the  interests  of  his 
false  god.  It  was  treason  on  the  civil  side  and  had  no 
palliation.  He  gave  himself  little  concern  for  the 
moral  or  spiritual  side.     Deut.  xviii.  20-22. 

There  was  no  considerable  gap  that  we  can  find  in 
the  succession  of  prophets  down  to  the  close  of  the 
canon.  Then  they  became  more  rare.  Many  suppose 
that  prophet  and  oracle  ceased  entirely  for  five  hundred 
years  till  the  coming  of  Christ.  Is  this  view  correct? 
We  think  not.  We  have  discussed  this  point  fully  in 
the  Chapter  on  "the  cannon"  in  a  former  volume.  We 
shall  only  touch  it  here. 

Anna  and  Simeon  were  prophets,  as  is  evident  from 
Luke  ii.  25-28.  They  certainly  antedated  the  Christian 
dispensation  and  belonged  to  the  intermediate  period. 
Josephus  mentions  Sameas  or  Pollio,  Simeon  and 
others  as  prophets  and  gives  some  of  their  prophesies. 


io6  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Why  reject  his  testimony?  The  high  priest  had  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  by  virtue  of  his  office  in  ahiiost  un- 
broken line  down  to  Caiaphas  "who  bein^  high  priest 
that  year"  i.  e.  in  virtue  of  his  office,  uttered  one  of  the 
most  comprehensive  prophecies  concerning  Christ,  re- 
corded in  the  Scriptures.     Jno.  xi.  45-52, 

We  need  not  here  tell  of  the  revived  and  expanded 
prophetic  function  on  the  spiritual  side  in  Apostolic 
times,  until  the  church  became  an  inspired  church  for 
three  quarters  of  a  century  and  more. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Tithes — How  far  Binding. 

The  word  tithe  means  one-tenth.  In  the  Scriptures 
it  means  one-tenth  of  the  increase  of  property  from  what- 
ever source  derived.  It  applied  to  products  of  the  soil, 
all  the  products  of  labor  and  capital,  spoils  taken  in  war, 
etc.  From  Leviticus  xxvii.  30-33,  we  read  that  they 
were  to  tithe  the  seed,  corn,  wine,  oil  and  fruit — all  pro- 
ducts of  the  soil.  Also  in  tithing  the  increase  of  flocks 
and  herds  the  tenth  was  taken  of  all  that  passed  under 
the  rod.  The  firstlings  of  their  flocks  and  herds  were 
the  Lord's  and  were  not  counted  as  part  of  their  tithing. 
Fleece,  peltry,  milk  and  butter  were  released  for  obvious 
reasons.     Flocks  and  herds  were  already  tithed. 

We  find  in  Genesis  xiv.  20,  that  Abraham  gave  one- 
tenth  of  all  the  recovered  spoil  to  Melchizedek.  In  Num- 
bers xxi.  we  find  an  elaborate  account  of  the  tithing  of 
the  spoil  taken  in  war  from  the  Midianites.  The  Levites 
gave  one-tenth  of  what  was  given  to  them  to  the  priests 
just  as  if  it  were  the  product  of  the  threshing  floor. 
Numbers  xviii.  26-30. 

The  tithes  were  required  for  religious  and  charitable 
uses.  The  word  tithe  often  occurs  in  the  singular  number 
and  is  used  interchangeably  with  "one-tenth"  and  "the 
tenth"  and  "the  tenth  part."  It  is  also  used  in  the  plural, 
tithes — because  there  were  three  different  tithes,  and  not 
because  the  tithe  consisted  of  different  items,  as  some 
suppose. 

Josephus  is  a  competent  witness  to  the  usage  of  the 


io8  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Jew.  In  his  Antiquities,  Book  iv.,  Chap.  8,  Sections  8 
and  22,  he  tells  us  of  three  tithes.  The  author  worked 
out  these  three  from  the  Scriptures  some  years  before 
he  examined  Josephus  on  the  subject,  and  he  was  de- 
lighted to  find  his  conclusions  confirmed  by  so  high  an 
authority.  We  shall  follow  his  nomenclature.  The  Le- 
vitical  Tithe,  The  Sanctuary  Tithe,  and  The  Poor  Tithe. 

/.  The  Levitical  Tithe.  We  have  seen  in  a  previous 
chapter  that  the  tribe  of  Levi  was  taken  as  a  religious 
caste.  They  had  no  lands  assigned  to  them,  and  they  had 
no  tribal  civil  organization  or  inheritance,  as  foretold  in 
Gen.  xlix.  y.  They  had  homes  assigned  them  in  forty- 
eight  Levitical  cities,  with  gardens  only  attached.  They 
were  to  be  supported  by  one-tenth  of  the  increase  of  the 
twelve  tribes.  They  were  ministers  of  religion,  divided 
into  priests  and  Levites.  Education  belonged  also  to 
them  as  a  spiritual  or  soul  function.  They  need  not  turn 
aside  to  secular  callings  if  properly  supported.  The 
generic  idea  in  this  tithe  was  this :  it  was  for  the  support 
of  ministers  of  religion. 

This  tithe  was  paid  over  to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  They 
gave  one-tenth  of  this  tenth  to  the  priests  so  that  their 
part  was  one-hundredth  part  of  the  whole.  The  priests 
in  turn  gave  one-tenth  of  their  part,  i.  e.  one-thousandth 
part  of  the  whole  to  the  Lord  for  tabernacle  and  temple 
service.  We  find  this  carried  out  in  full  in  the  tithing 
of  the  spoils  taken  from  the  Midianites.  See  Num- 
bers xxxi. 

//.  The  Sanetuary  Tithe.  A  second  tenth  was  taken 
out  of  the  increase  to  pay  the  expenses  incident  to  at- 
tending the  feasts  at  the  tabernacle  wherever  located  and 
afterwards  at  the  temple  in  Jerusalem.  There  were  three 
great  feasts,  the  Passover,  Pentecost,  and  Tabernacles. 
All  Ihc  males  from  twelve  years  old  and  upward  were 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  109 

required  to  attend  these  annual  feasts.  There  were  also 
other  minor  occasions,  such  as  the  feast  of  trumpets  and 
the  great  day  of  Atonement,  which  they  might  or  might 
not  attend.  The  females  were  not  required  to  attend 
these  feasts,  but  they  were  glad  to  go  when  the  exigencies 
of  their  families  did  not  require  them  to  remain  at  home. 
This  sanctuary  tithe  was  not  paid  over  to  any  one,  but 
was  laid  up  at  home  to  be  used  for  the  personal  religious 
expenses  of  themselves  and  families  when  attending  these 
feasts.  It  would  have  been  a  great  burden  for  the  people 
at  Jerusalem  to  support  for  a  week,  and  often  much 
longer,  the  countless  crowds  that  attended  these  feasts — • 
an  impossible  burden,  however  great  their  hospitality.  If 
they  lived  nearby,  they  carried  this  tithe  with  them  in 
kind.  But  if  they  lived  too  far  away  they  were  enjoined 
to  convert  the  tithe  into  money,  and  then  buy  at  Jerusa- 
lem what  they  might  need  or  whatever  their  hearts  de- 
sired, for  those  were  festal  occasions.    Deut.  xiv.  23.-27; 

xii-  5t7.  17.  18.  22. 

///.  The  Poor  Tithe.  This  tithe  was  taken  every 
third  year  and  laid  up  at  home  for  charitable  uses.  It 
was  distributed  by  the  giver  to  the  poor  around  him,  and 
to  the  poor  Levite  not  otherwise  provided  for,  and  also 
to  the  poor  stranger  or  foreigner  within  their  gates. 
This  was  two-tenths  in  six  years,  or  we  might  say  one- 
thirtieth  every  year  for  six  years,  for  the  poor,  and  then 
the  seventh  or  Sabbatical  year  yielded  no  tithes  because 
it  was  the  year  of  rest,  and  all  the  spontaneous  crops, 
vintage  and  fruits  were  left  for  the  poor  to  gather.  Thus 
there  was  unique  provision  for  the  poor,  extending  to 
other  details  also,  such  as  their  rules  in  gleaning  and 
reaping,  and  gathering  fruits  by  the  wayside.  Deut.  xiv. 
28,  29;  xxvi.  12-15. 

The  advantage  in  laying  aside  a  tithe  for  the  poor  is 


no  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

obvious.  The  question  of  ability  or  will  to  help  the  poor 
and  the  unfortunate  was  put  in  abeyance  as  against  sel- 
fishness, and  one  only  had  the  pleasure  of  distribution, 
and  the  experience  of  making  the  poor  happy,  and  himself 
richer  for  the  blessings  invoked  upon  his  head  by  the 
grateful  receiver.  On  the  other  hand  there  is  nothing 
so  contemptible,  or  so  well  calculated  to  make  a  man  de- 
spise himself  as  to  higgle  with  his  selfishness  every  time 
a  case  of  need  is  presented.  The  man  who  provides  a 
fund  for  such  uses  has  already  fought  the  battle  and 
gained  the  victory  over  avarice,  greed,  and  covetousness, 
and  given  selfishness  a  staggering  blow. 

Thus  we  see  that  Mosaic  institutions  required  three 
tithes,  one  to  support  ministers  of  religion,  one  to  meet 
the  personal  religious  expenses  of  themselves  and  families, 
one  for  helping  the  poor,  making  in  the  aggregate  nine- 
thirtieths  of  their  increase — more  than  one-fourth  and 
less  than  one-third.  This  was  no  unreasonable  burden 
when  we  consider  relative  values. 

Nor  was  this  all.  There  were  free  will  offerings  be- 
sides, included  in  the  phrase,  "Tithes  and  oflferings." 
There  was  no  numerical  measure  or  proportion  for  these 
offerings.  They  were  sometimes  very  large  as  in  their 
gifts  to  building  the  tabernacle  and  afterward  the  temple. 
There  was  a  treasury  (a  chest  or,  as  some  say,  thirteen 
receptacles)  in  the  threshold  of  the  temple  where  un- 
counted pious  oflferings  were  cast  into  the  Lord's  treas- 
ury. These  offerings  were  sometimes  given  on  occasion, 
sometimes  the  mere  product  of  loyal  gratitude  and  love, 
and  sometimes  in  payment  of  vows  made  to  the  Lord  in 
time  of  trouble  more  often  than  in  prosperity.  Ps. 
Ixvi.  13,  14.  Thanksgiving  offerings  were  also  com- 
mon among  all  peoples  and  in  all  religions. 

We  come  to  consider  now  whether  all  or  any  of  these 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  hi 

tithes  are  binding  upon  Christians.  Some  say  none. 
They  claim  that  tithes  passed  away  with  the  Jewish  dis- 
pensation and  that  all  Christian  giving  comes  under  the 
category  of  free  will  offerings.  We  shall  consider  this 
claim  later  on. 

We  are  face  to  face  with  this  broader  question,  how 
far  Jewish  institutions  are  binding  or  even  imitable.  We 
shall  probably  discuss  this  question  in  another  connection. 
We  can  here  only  enumerate  one  or  two  principles. 
Those  things  which  did  not  originate  with  Jewish  insti- 
tutions, but  were  adopted  into  them,  did  not  necessarily 
pass  away  with  them.  Then  again,  those  things  which 
were  Jewish  in  their  origin,  or  essentially  Jewish  and 
theocratic  in  form  or  substance,  did  pass  away,  pro 
forma,  at  least,  and  probably  altogether.  But  if  the  Jew- 
ish form  represented  a  substance  or  a  principle  of  older 
date,  then  the  substance  remains  though  the  temporary 
form  did  pass  away. 

These  principles  would  seem  self-evident.  We  may 
now  consider  these  three  tithes,  taking  them  up  in  the 
inverse  order. 

I.  The  Poor  Tithe.  This  would  seem  to  be  essentially 
Jewish  in  form,  for  it  fitted  in  with  seven  year  periods 
ending  with  the  Sabbatical  year,  and  it  was  evidently 
only  a  part  of  a  unique  system  of  providing  for  the  poor. 
We  may  therefore  admit  that  this  tithe  passed  away  pro 
forma.  But  the  fact  remains  that  the  poor  must  be  pro- 
vided for.  There  were  poor  to  be  helped  before  Sinaitic 
legislation,  and  we  shall  also  have  the  poor  with  us  al- 
ways. The  obligation  to  help  them  remains,  whether 
they  be  at  our  own  doors  or  at  any  accessible  point 
among  men.  The  lesson  of  the  Poor  Tithe  is  well  worth 
learning.  Systematic  provision  for  the  poor  comes  under 
the  second  great  commandment,   "Thou  shalt  love  thy 


112  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

neighbor  as  thyself."  Modern  accessibility  has  brought 
the  poor  of  all  the  earth  to  the  very  doors  of  Christen- 
dom. There  is  sore  need  of  more  systematic  effort  to 
reach  both  the  bodies  and  souls  of  the  perishing  poor 
of  all  the  earth.  The  poor  tithe  furnishes  us  the  hints  we 
need. 

2.  The  Sanctuary  Tithe.  It  was  specifically  appointed 
to  insure  proper  attendance  on  the  great  feasts  of  the 
Jewish  system.  We  must  admit  that  it  also  has  passed 
away,  pro  forma.  But  the  principle  remains  that  a  man 
should  provide  for  the  personal  religious  expenses  of 
himself  and  family.  "If  any  provide  not  for  his  own, 
and  especially  those  of  his  own  household,  he  hath  de- 
nied the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  i  Tim.  v.  8. 
This  principle  does  not  interfere  with  a  large  hospitality ; 
nor  does  it  excuse  men  of  means  from  assisting  the  poor 
in  their  personal  religious  expenses,  such  as  food,  rai- 
ment, transportation,  personal  comfort  in  places  of  wor- 
ship and  so  on. 

It  was  for  many  years  the  custom  to  entertain  with 
the  largest  liberality  all  religious  gatherings,  such  as  pres- 
byteries, synods,  assemblies,  conventions,  associations  and 
the  like,  and  it  is  still  the  custom  in  many  quarters.  But 
it  is  passing  away  and  rightly  so.  They  are  becoming  so 
numerous  and  are  attended  by  such  crowds  both  of  mem- 
bers and  visitors,  that  it  has  become  an  intolerable  bur- 
den, and  it  is  rapidly  becoming  the  custom  and  the  duty 
of  all  to  bear  their  own  expenses.  The  hints  furnished 
by  this  sanctuary  tithe  will  be  valuable  to  the  end  of  time. 

3.  The  Levitical  Tithe.  It  might  be  argued  that  this 
tithe  passed  away  with  the  tribe  of  Levi.  The  obvious 
replv  is  that  this  tithe  was  generically  for  the  support  of 
ministers  of  religion.  If  it  be  conceded  that  it  passed 
away  with  Jewish  institutions  the  principle  still  remains 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  113 

that  ministers  of  religion  must  be  supported.  This  is 
the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament.  We  need  not  quote 
the  proof  texts.  Christ  and  His  disciples  lived  on  the 
loving  ministrations  of  His  disciples.  Paul  maintains 
the  principle  as  a  matter  of  right  by  quoting  Old  Testa- 
ment usages.  This  principle  has  been  and  is  still  the 
working  principle  of  all  religions  and  among  all  peoples, 
derived,  doubtless,  from  a  common  tradition,  or  adopted 
from  a  common  source.  It  is  so  deeply  rooted  that 
priestly  domination  has  been  easy  of  accomplishment. 
The  sentiment  and  the  duty  are  unquestioned.  The  only 
question  that  remains  is  this,  Did  this  tithe  originate  in 
Sinaitic  legislation  and  pass  away  with  those  features 
which  were  essentially  Jewish  ?  Or  does  the  tithe  remain 
to  this  day  as  a  divine  indication  of  duty? 

The  fact  that  all  Christian  nations  until  recently  ac- 
cepted the  doctrine  of  the  tithe  raises  a  presumption  in 
its  favor,  but  is  no  proof  or  authority  for  it,  for  there 
have  been  Judaizing  tendencies  in  the  church  in  all  ages, 
and  the  enforcement  of  tithes  in  illegitimate  theocracies 
or  unions  of  church  and  state  has  certainly  been  the  pro- 
lific source  of  evil.  The  re-action  against  such  abuses  of 
tithing  by  state  taxation  has  led  to  a  rejection  of  all 
tithing,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  it  should  be  so.  The 
very  name  became  odious  because  of  taxation,  often  op- 
pressive, in  the  name  of  tithes.  Such  a  system  contra- 
vened religious  liberty  and  is  justly  odious. 

More  recent  advocates  of  the  tithe  by  intense  protes- 
tants  have  made  even  a  worse  and  more  odious  mistake 
in  making  the  tithe  a  tax  to  be  collected  under  church  au- 
thority and  enforced  by  church  discipline.  This  is 
really  the  doctrine  of  the  papacy. 

The  tithe  did  not  originate  at  Mt.  Sinai.  It  is  men- 
tioned twice  as  a  rule  of  life  in  actual  practice  several 


114  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

centuries  before.  In  Gen.  xiv.  we  are  told  that  Abraham 
on  his  return  with  the  recovered  spoil  of  the  cities  of  the 
Plain,  was  met  by  Melchizedek,  a  great  high  priest,  and 
he  gave  him  one-tenth  of  all  even  though  he  himself 
would  take  nothing  for  himself.  It  all  belonged  to  him 
by  right  of  salvage  and  the  King  of  Sodom  so  recognized. 
But  he  evidently  gave  the  tenth  to  Melchizedek  as  a  mat- 
ter of  usage  and  right.  Paul  so  expounds  it  in  Heb.  vii. 
i-io.  His  argument  would  mean  nothing  on  any  other 
theory. 

The  other  mention  of  the  tithe  is  in  Gen.  xxviii.  20-22. 
While  Jacob  lived  in  his  father's  house,  all  the  increase 
belonged  to  his  father  under  patriarchal  usages.  When 
he  left  home  he  set  up  for  himself.  He  slept  the  first 
night  from  home  at  or  near  the  city  Luz,  and  saw  that 
wonderful  vision  of  the  ladder  and  the  angels ;  and  the 
Lord  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  blessed  and  com- 
forted him  and  renewed  to  him  the  Abrahamic  covenant, 
in  its  fullness.  Jacob  recalled  it  all  when  he  awoke  the 
next  morning.  He  attested  his  gratitude  and  piety  by 
recording  his  famous  vow  that  the  Lord  should  be  his 
God  and  that  he  would  surely  give  him  back  a  tenth 
of  all  that  his  God  should  give  him.  Desperate  efforts 
have  been  made  to  show  that  all  this  was  conditioned 
on  his  safe  return  home,  and  that  he  took  no  account  of 
his  vow  until  his  return  home  twenty  years  later  when  he 
returned  to  the  same  spot. 

There  seems  to  me  to  be  no  place  for  such  a  theory, 
but  on  the  contrary  he  places  the  tithe  on  its  true  basis, 
a  recognition  that  all  his  increase  would  be  God's  gift; 
"of  all  that  thou  shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth 
unto  thee."  But  suppose  it  were  true  that  Jacob  took  no 
account  of  his  vow  either  for  material  or  spiritual  wor- 
ship  (a  violent  supposition)   until  his  return,  still  it  re- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  115 

mains  that  even  then  he  took  up  the  worship  and  the 
tithing  of  his  father  Abraham  as  the  rule  and  law  of  his 
life  under  the  covenant  renewed  to  him  twenty  years 
before.  The  date  matters  little,  the  substance  remains, 
and  it  is  evident  that  Jacob  adopted  the  tithe  as  his  rule 
of  life  in  grateful  recognition  of  God's  gifts. 

This  previous  existence  and  practice  of  the  tithe,  cen- 
turies before  Sinai's  law  was  given,  justifies  its  prominent 
place  in  that  law,  but  raises  no  presumption  that  it  would 
pass  away  with  it.  Paul  emphasizes  this  principle  when 
defending  the  permanence  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant 
in  Gal.  iii.  17.  "The  law,  which  came  four  hundred  and 
thirty  years  after  cannot  disannul."  These  words  are 
equally  applicable  to  the  covenant  or  the  tithe.  The  prin- 
ciple is  sound. 

The  objector  says  that  the  tithe  was  a  ceremonial  and 
passed  with  other  ceremonials  which  were  practised 
from  the  beginning.  Was  it  a  ceremonial — a  type — a 
mere  form  having  a  spiritual  significance  and  valued 
chiefly  therefor.  If  so  no  one  has  tried  to  show  it.  If 
it  was  a  shadow,  what  was  its  substance? 

The  objector  says  again  that  the  tithe  supported  the 
tribe  of  Levi  who  were  the  administrators  of  a  ceremonial 
system.  We  reply  that  the  ceremonies  were  a  very  in- 
significant part  of  their  religious  duties  and  functions, 
as  shown  in  a  previous  chapter. 

But  once  more,  the  objector.  Why  was  it  not  re- 
enacted  in  the  New  Testament?  In  reply:  why  was  not 
the  Noachic  covenant  re-enacted,  and  many  other  things  ? 
Christ  and  His  apostles  re-enacted  nothing.  However, 
there  would  seem  to  be  a  reference  to  a  recognized  pro- 
portion in  I  Cor.  xvi.  i,  2,  "according  as  the  Lord  has 
prospered  you." 

The  tithe  then  would  seem  to  be  the  exact  analogue 


ii6  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

of  the  Sabbath — one-seventh  of  the  time  and  one-tenth 
of  the  substance  were  the  Lord's.  One-seventh  of  the 
time  is  the  minimum  of  the  time,  much  more  is  often  to 
be  given;  so  one-tenth  of  the  substance  is  the  minimum, 
and  far  more  is  often  required.  The  patriot  citizen 
of  the  State  bears  cheerfully  the  minimum  burdens  re- 
quired of  him,  but  some  times  he  gives  his  all  and  even 
life  itself  at  his  country's  call.  So  it  is  in  the  kingdom 
of  grace.  This  is  the  surface  doctrine  of  the  entire  Scrip- 
tures. * 

The  tithe  was  not  a  tax.  No  tithe  assessor  nor  collec- 
tor visited  the  homes  of  the  people  or  made  inquisition. 
It  was  as  purely  a  voluntary  ofifering  as  were  the  free 
will  offerings,  though  determined  by  different  reasons. 
The  tithe  was  a  divine  levy,  self-assessed,  and  enforced 
by  conscience.  The  purse  strings, of  God's  people  were 
never  given  to  any  human  tribunal.  But  he  has  reserved 
to  himself  to  reward  or  punish  by  providential  sanctions, 
or  otherwise,  in  time  and  in  eternity.  Malachi's  words 
are  pertinent  here  iii.  8-10,  "Will  a  man  rob  God"; 
"Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse";  "Prove  me 
now  herewith  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  if  I  will  not  open 
the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing  till 
there  be  not  room  to  receive  it." 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  that  tithe-paying  de- 
pended largely  on  the  fidelity  and  spirituality  of  priests 
and  people,  and  that  priests  and  Levites  were  sometimes 
reduced  to  great  straits  and  their  duties  nearly  abandoned 
for  secular  pursuits  for  a  support.  We  may  mention 
further  that  tithe  receivers  were  sometimes  appointed  to 
make  fair  and  equitable  distribution.  All  of  which  we 
learn  from  Neh.  xiii.  10-13.  Faithful  men  were  appointed 
over  the  treasuries  (storehouses)  and  "their  office  was  to 
distribute  to  their  brethren." 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  117 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  close  this  discussion  with  the 
following  which  the  author  prepared  for  a  different  pur- 
pose and  in  a  different  connection,  to-wit : 

1.  The  scriptural  tithe  was  one-tenth  of  the  proper 
product  of  capital,  labor,  spoil,  or  any  other  form  of  in- 
crease, estimated,  in  gross,  and  was  consecrated  to  the 
support  of  the  institutions  of  religion,  and  was  the  divine 
indication  of  a  minimum  to  be  given  for  this  purpose. 
Circumstances  and  the  exigencies  of  the  case  oft^n  called 
for  a  much  larger  proportion  in  the  form  of  free-will 
offerings. 

2.  This  tithe  is  seen  in  practice  before  the  ratification 
of  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  is  recognized  by  Jacob  as 
the  law  of  his  life  consecration,  and  was  formally  en- 
grafted on  the  Alosaic  system  at  Mount  Sinai.  It  must 
not  be  confounded  with  the  sanctuary  tithe  and  the  poor 
tithe,  which  presumably  originated  with  that  system  and 
passed  away  with  it.  Having  none  of  the  features  of  a 
type  or  mere  ceremonial,  it  would  seem  to  be  of  divine 
authority  as  long  as  there  are  institutions  of  religion  to 
support. 

3.  This  tithe  was  purely  a  voluntary  offering,  self- 
assessed,  and  collected  by  no  civil  or  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, and  enforced  only  by  providential  rewards  and 
punishments.  The  enacted  and  enforced  tithes  of  so 
many  other  religious  systems  have  been  a  usurpation  of 
a  divine  prerogative  and  a  galling  despotism. 

4.  Nor  was  this  tithe  an  inexorable  law,  to  be  self- 
enforced  in  the  face  of  all  conditions.  All  positive  in- 
stitutions which  indicate  a  certain  measure  of  service 
would  sometimes  become  irksome  and  cruel  if  there  were 
no  principle  limiting  their  application  in  actual  practice. 
Phariseeism  says,  "Enforce  at  all  hazards."    Christ  says, 


ii8  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

"Go  ye  and  learn  what  this  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice,"  thus  quoting  and  setting  up  the  Old 
Testament  and  universal  principle  of  "necessity  and 
mercy,"  as  limiting  such  positive  measures  of  service. 
Such  plea  of  "necessity  and  mercy"  in  the  tither's  case 
is  between  him  and  his  God,  and  he  must  needs  be  care- 
ful that  he  is  not  moved  by  covetousness  on  the  one  hand, 
or  by  weakness  of  faith  on  the  other. 

5.  It  is  left  to  "prophet"  and  "teacher"  to  expound 
and  enforce  this  duty  of  tithing  as  far  as  he  may  see 
his  way  clear  to  do  so  from  God's  word,  and  only  so  far ; 
and  it  is  also  left  to  the  conscience  of  the  individual 
Christians  to  determine  how  far  he  shall  accept  and  act 
upon  this  minimum  rule  of  honoring  God  with  the  sub- 
stance ;  but  both  the  teacher  and  the  taught  must  give  ac- 
count to  the  same  Judge,  and  to  him  only.  All  other 
question  or  inquisition  about  it  would  be  an  impertinence 
and  a  usurpation. 

6.  It  follows,  therefore,  clearly  that  the  church  courts 
can  pronounce  nothing  on  this  subject  which  shall  bind 
the  conscience  or  the  conduct  of  God's  people,  even  by 
its  moral  weight.  Besides,  such  deliverance  would  be  of 
the  nature  of  promulgating  a  new  article  of  faith  not  now 
embraced  in  the  standards  of  the  church.  Such  a  new 
article  of  faith  might  perhaps  be  added  to  the  Confession 
of  Faith  in  a  constitutional  way,  but  in  that  case  the  con- 
stitutional duty  of  enforcement  would  rest  upon  the 
church,  and  then  liberty  perishes  under  ecclesiastical 
domination. 

7.  The  obligation  to  support  the  institutions  of  religion 
seems  to  have  been  unquestioned  in  New  Testament  times 
by  the  heresies  of  the  day ;  we,  therefore,  find  but  two 
references  to  it,  one  by  Christ — "The  laborer  is  worthy 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  119 

of  his  hire" — and  one  by  Paul,  i  Cor.  ix.  9-14;  and  both 
references  are  drawn  from  Old  Testament  usages  and 
authority.  Numerous  and  urgent  arguments  and  exhor- 
tations are,  however,  given  to  secure  generous  gifts  to 
the  poor,  and  they  were  no  doubt  timely.  These  exhor- 
tations contain  principles  of  wider  application  to  the  Old 
Testament  tithes,  and  free-will  offerings  as  well. 

8.  Many  who  may  not  concede  the  permanent  bind- 
ing authority  of  the  tithe  as  a  minimum  for  all  ages  and 
dispensations  will  perhaps  concede  the  following  proposi- 
tion :  If  the  tithe  was  the  minimum  proportion  in  a  con- 
fessedly inferior  dispensation,  the  larger  graces,  wider 
field  and  abounding  prosperity  of  a  better  dispensation 
do  not  suggest  a  smaller  proportion  when  we  essay  to 
"honor  the  Lord  with  our  substance." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Book  of  Genesis. 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  called 
the  Books  of  Moses.  They  were  doubtless  one  book 
written  by  him  and  usually  called  the  Pentateuch.  The 
subdivisions  into  books,  chapters,  and  verses  are  of 
comparatively  recent  origin.  Joshua  -seems  to  have 
taken  up  the  pen  where  Moses  laid  it  down  and  finished 
the  history  of  the  removal  of  Israel  from  Egypt  and 
their  settlement  in  the  promised  land.  The  six  books 
are  sometimes  called  the  Hexateuch. 

In  the  arbitrary  division  into  books  the  mistake  was 
made  of  putting  the  account  of  Moses'  death  and  burial 
and  the  tribute  to  his  memory  as  the  last  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy  instead  of  the  first  chapter  of  Joshua. 
The  division  was  evidently  made,  not  according  to  the 
actual  authorship,  but  according  to  subject  matter.  In 
this  way  Deuteronomy  completes  Moses'  administra- 
tion with  an  account  of  his  death,  and  Joshua  begins 
with  the  account  of  a  new  administration.  The  divi- 
sions of  the  Pentateuch  were  evidently  all  made  accord- 
ing to  the  subject  matter  and  names  given  to  corres- 
pond. 

The  present  names  of  these  books  are  not  found  in 
the  Scriptures  at  all.  Christ  refers  in  general  to  the 
Scripture.  Once  he  refers  to  the  Old  Testament  Canon 
as  "Moses  and  the  Prophets"  and  once  as  "Moses,  the 
Prophets  and  the  Psalms."  This  was  the  popular  divi- 
sion in  his  day  and  is  still  accepted  by  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  121 

The  reader  will  notice  that  in  this  chapter  and  the 
next  we  follow  the  old  fashioned,  traditional,  common 
sense,  and  surface  view  of  these  books  of  Moses.  We 
also  assume  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  these  books,  as 
was  commonly  held  in  Christ's  day,  and  almost  univer- 
sally in  all  the  ages  till  this  day. 

We  hold  likewise  that  the  fifty-eight  references  to 
Moses  in  the  New  Testament  do  seem  to  show  that 
Christ  and  the  apostles  believed  in  the  Mosaic  author- 
ship of  these  books.  There  is  such  a  variety  of  state- 
ment and  reference  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
hold  any  other  theory.  One  or  two  or  more  of  these 
references  might  be  explained  away  by  a  plausible  exe- 
gesis, but  the  body  of  them  would  still  remain  unchal- 
lenged. 

More  than  this,  these  references  to  Moses  are  so 
numerously  intertwined  and  interlaced  with  the  doc- 
trine and  teaching  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  that  they 
cannot  be  questioned  in  their  integrity  without  putting 
the  whole  scheme  of  truth  in  danger. 

The  aim  of  this  discussion  will  be  to  locate  these 
books  in  the  canon  as  a  necessary  part  thereof,  and  to 
indicate  their  coherency  with  the  whole.  We  shall  see 
that  their  integrity,  both  historical  and  doctrinal,  is 
basic  in  Scripture  exegesis. 

We  may  further  remark,  the  uniform  tradition  in 
favor  of  the  authorship  of  these  books,  which  has  pre- 
vailed so  many  centuries,  has  the  right  of  way  against 
all  comers,  unless  actual  facts  be  found  to  the  contrary. 
Presumptions  may  not  be  set  aside  by  assumptions. 
Presumptive  evidence  may  not  be  set  aside  by  ingen- 
ious conceits. 

The  book  of  Genesis  professes  to  give  the  origin  of 
the  race,  the  creation  of  the  present  cosmos,  and  the 


122  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

origin  of  human  institutions,  social,  civil  and  religious. 
It  reveals  God  in  his  relations  to  all  created  beings,  and 
the  principles  of  his  government.  It  gives  in  the  first 
few  chapters  a  succinct  history  of  the  race  dow^n  to  the 
Flood. 

Now  it  is  true  that  all  peoples  have  accounts  of 
origins,  especially  of  their  own  origin  and  early  history. 
Legend  and  story,  romance,  folk-lore  and  song,  and 
stories  of  their  heroes  and  of  their  Gods  have  been 
handed  down  orally  and  in  written  form.  In  the  liter- 
atures of  some,  these  things  are  set  forth  with  great 
beauty.  Historians  have  incorporated  them  into  their 
books,  sometimes  with  superstitious  credulity  and 
reverence  and  sometimes  as  mere  hearsay  and  curious 
traditions. 

The  most  of  this  is  easily  distinguished  from  au- 
thentic history.  It  was  the  fashion  some  years  ago  to' 
pronounce  all  the  early  history  of  Greece  and  Rome 
romantic,  and  to  remand  it  to  the  realm  of  the  legen- 
dary. But  to-day  the  tendency  is  to  find  a  historic 
basis  for  it  all,  and  to  ascertain  its  real  historic  value. 
The  argument  is  this :  the  Connection  between  the 
story  of  origin  and  later  authentic  history  is  so  close 
that  the  legendary  history  is  necessarily  true  for  sub- 
stance, and  it  is  only  needful  to  ascertain  the  truth  and 
brush  away  romantic  accretions. 

Now  look  at  the  book  of  Genesis.  There  are  no  ro- 
mantic accretions.  The  story  is  told  in  the  simplest 
historic  prose.  The  actual  history  has  not  been  dressed 
up  with  romantic  detail.  On  the  contrary  the  numer- 
ous details  of  its  story  of  origins  do  bind  it  to  the  later 
history  with  hooks  of  steel — or,  to  change  the  figure, 
they  do  enter  into  the  very  web  and  woof  of  the  later 
Scriptures,  both  historical  and  doctrinal. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  123 

Agnostics  have  claimed  in  vain  that  Genesis  is 
legend,  fiction  and  allegory,  even  to  this  extent,  that 
Abraham  was  the  mere  product  of  oriental  thought. 
It  is  therefore  logical  when  they  dispute  the  historicity 
of  the  later  books  of  the  Bible.  If  one  be  true  the  other 
is  of  necessity  true,  and  vice  versa. 

Others  accept  the  inspired  historicity  of  the  book, 
but  they  see  in  it  little  more  than  a  collection  of  stories 
and  biographies  for  our  instruction,  warning  or  imita- 
tion.  They  value  the  book  almost  entirely  for  the 
spiritual  lessons  to  be  gotten  out  of  it.  We  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  the  use  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  means 
of  grace  and  spiritual  improvement.  But  this  hardly 
comes  into  the  trend  of  this  discussion. 

We  maintain  here  that  this  book  is  a  necessary  in- 
troduction to  the  entire  Scriptures.  They  were  a  head- 
less trunk  without  it.  If  the  book  had  been  lost  and 
the  Bible  began  with  the  Book  of  Exodus  every  reader 
would  feel  the  want  of  something  to  explain  the  condi- 
tions, as  if  a  reader  were  to  plunge  into  a  detached 
chapter  of  history  with  no  knowledge  of  previous  con- 
ditions. 

In  such  a  case  we  imagine  that  scholars  would 
search  for  the  missing  book  and  hail  its  discovery  as  a 
very  message  from  heaven.  Or  they  would  busy  them- 
selves with  trying  to  reconstruct  the  missing  book  out 
of  references  found  in  the  other  books.  This  method 
was  used  in  astronomy  to  locate  and  finally  discover 
one  of  the  planets  of  the  Solar  System.  The  same 
method  has  been  applied  to  literary  problems. 

Our  contention  will  find  its  truth  vindicated  in  a 
brief  analysis  of  the  book.  Even  a  careless  Bible 
reader  can  but  see  its  pertinency  at  every  point  to  all 
other  Scripture.  Nay  more,  he  will  find  it  the  key  to 
all  the  rest. 


124  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Tlie  book  embraces  two  periods.  The  first  period 
extends  from  Creation  to  the  flood.  The  second  pe- 
riod extends  from  the  Flood  to  the  Exodus. 

In  the  first  period  we  find  the  story  of  Creation ;  the 
estabHshment  of  the  present  order  of  things  on  the 
earth's  surface ;  the  introduction  of  plant  life  and  ani- 
mal life ;  the  orig-in  of  man ;  his  dual  nature,  spiritual 
and  material ;  the  divine  government  over  him ;  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  family  and  the  Sabbath ;  the  cove- 
nant in  the  Garden  of  Eden ;  the  devices  of  Satan ;  the 
breach  of  the  covenant;  the  origin  of  man's  sin;  the 
fact  of  the  fall ;  the  entrance  of  death  with  Sin ;  the 
curse  on  the  several  parties  and  upon  all  nature,  ani- 
mate and  inanimate,  for  man's  sake;  the  plan  of  re- 
demption ;  divine  teaching  and  revelation ;  the  estab- 
lishment of  ceremonial  worship ;  and  the  promise  of  a 
redeemer  from  the  seed  of  the  woman.  All  these 
things  cohere  with  the  statements  and  the  expositions  of 
the  later  Scriptures.  Indeed  they  furnish  the  key  to 
the  doctrine  of  redemption.  If  there  w-ere  no  first 
Adam  there  could  be  no  second  Adam.  If  there  were 
no  curse  there  could  be  no  redemption  from  the  curse. 
If  there  were  no  spiritual  death  there  could  be  no 
quickening  by  the  Spirit.  If  there  be  no  Paradise  lost, 
there  is  no  Paradise  regained. 

We  find  also  a  graphic  picture  of  the  earliest  civil- 
ization, and  also  of  the  rapid  deterioration  of  the  race, 
and  the  cause  of  it;  the  rapid  growth  of  evil ;  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  social,  civil,  and 
religious;  the  barriers  broken  down  and  the  rapid  con- 
tamination of  the  righteous  and  the  universal  preval- 
ence of  sin  and  crime  and  violence.  All  of  which  cul- 
minated in  the  necessity  of  destroying  man  with  the 
waters  of  the  Flood. 

The  Flood  was  a  great  historic  fact  referred  to  again 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  125 

and  again  in  the  later  Scriptures,  and  held  by  all  na- 
tions as  a  fact  attested  by  a  common  tradition.  This 
terrific  destruction  is  amply  vindicated  in  Genesis  and 
nowhere  else.  It  does  seem  marvelous  that  the  brief 
history  found  in  the  first  eight  chapters  of  Genesis 
tells  us,  so  many  things  of  fundamental  importance, 
both  directly  and  by  necessary  implication. 

May  we  not  compare  the  dignity  and  the  majesty  of 
this  brief  history  with  the  puerilities  of  all  earthborn 
attempts  to  discuss  the  origins?  What  makes  the  dif- 
ference ?  One  is  man-made  and  the  other  is  God-given. 
Milton's  great  epic.  Paradise  Lost,  is  based  on  a  few  of 
the  facts  found  here  and  a  few  more  coherent  facts 
gleaned  from  other  Scriptures — ''immortal  facts  wed- 
ded to  immortal  verse." 

After  the  Flood — the  second  period — the  race  took 
a  new  start  under  the  new  covenant  made  with  the 
race.  Sin  and  Satan  made  sad  inroads  in  Noah's 
family,  and  the  second  curse  is  not  ended  yet.  A 
second  separation  at  Babel,  more  far  reaching  than  the 
first,  seemed  necessary  to  prevent  the  permanent  con- 
solidation of  Satan's  kingdom  and  for  the  better  pro- 
tection of  the  righteous. 

As  the  centuries  passed,  decay  and  apostasies  set  in 
more  and  more  rapidly.  It  became  necessary  to  try  a 
new  experiment  of  special  covenant  dispensation. 
Abram  was  called  and  covenant  was  made  with  him  and 
his  seed  to  bless  all  nations,  against  the  time  of  univer- 
sal apostasy. 

Then  we  read  the  history  of  his  family,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob,  and  the  twelve  patriarchs.  We  read  of  their  so- 
journ in  the  land  promised  to  him  and  his  seed.  We 
read  how  the  twelve  patriarchs  grew  into  as  many 
tribes  and  the  tribes  into  a  nation  in  Egypt — two  mil- 
lion  or   more.      We   hardly    realize   that    this    story    of 


126  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Abraham  and  his  seed  covers  a  sweep  of  five  hundred 
3^ears.  It  was  meet  that  so  much  more  space  is  given 
to  them  in  the  record  because  they  were  central  in  the 
divine  plan  for  the  redemption  of  the  race. 

The  genealogies  in  the  tenth  chapter — The  Toldoth 
Beni-Noah — were  necessary  to  connect  the  nations 
with  each  other  and  with  the  Hebrews,  and  are  of 
supreme  value  to  us  in  tracing  the  unity  of  the  human 
race. 

This  history  shows  how  the  Hebrews  became  God's 
peculiar  people.  It  was  not  for  their  own  sake,  but  for 
the  sake  of  the  race.  'Tn  thee  and  thy  seed  shall  all 
nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed ;"  "all  families  of  the 
earth."  The  seed  culminates  in  Christ.  So  Paul  ex- 
l^ounds  it,  and  the  covenant  is  yet  to  be  realized  in  its 
fulness. 

The  entire  scheme  was  designed  to  preserve  the 
"Oracles  of  God,"  according  to  Paul,  Rom.  iii.  3,  and  to 
save  the  elect.  The  divine  oracles  were  received  at 
Sinai  and  unfolded  until  the  Old  Testament  Canon  was 
completed,  and  have  been  handed  down  the  ages  to  us. 
The  divine  sovereignty  and  their  lack  of  special  merit 
are  illustrated  at  every  step. 

Suppose  this  book  were  lost.  But  why  make  such 
a  supposition?  It  were  as  impossible  to  lose  as  the 
eternal  truth  of  God.  In  hand  to  hand  battle  the  enemy 
strikes  at  the  head  of  his  antagonist,  and  a  deadly  blow 
destroys  the  life  of  the  entire  body.  So  here,  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Bible  aim  their  deadliest  blows  at  this  book. 

Besides  this,  the  warring  sects  of  Christendom, 
Calvinists,  Arminians,  Socinians  and  Pelagians  part 
company  in  their  interpretations  of  fundamental  facts 
in  the  Book  of  Genesis  and  interpret  all  the  other  Scrip- 
tures accordingly.  The  reason  of  this  is  found  in  the 
intense  logical  coherency  of  the  entire  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Four  Other  Books  of  Moses, 

The  Book  of  Genesis  closes  with  the  death  of  Joseph. 
His  administration  in  Egypt  and  his  pohcy  and  influence 
cover  three  quarters  of  a  century  of  petting  and  pros- 
perity of  Israel.  Exodus  begins  with  a  change  of  policy 
within  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  after  his  death.  The 
Hyksos  or  Shepherd  kings  were  expelled.  The  worship 
of  Jehovah  was  abolished  as  the  religion  of  the  State,  and 
the  old  Egyptian  religion  was  restored.  The  King  or 
dynasty  that  knew  not  Joseph  was  hostile  to  the  worship 
of  Jehovah  and  was  of  necessity  hostile  to  the  religion 
of  Joseph  and  his  people.  The  Hebrews  of  necessity 
sympathized  with  their  Hykso  benefactors,  socially, 
civilly,  and  religiously.  The  king  of  Egypt  was  justified 
in  his  fears  that  this  rapidly  increasing  Hebrew  popu- 
lation would,  in  case  of  war  with  the  returning  Hyksos, 
join  their  former  friends  and  also  get  out  of  Egypt.  Their 
final  expectation  of  settling  in  Palestine  under  the  coven- 
ant with  Abraham  was  no  secret.  And  besides,  so 
thrifty  a  population  as  Israel,  settled  in  the  garden  spot 
of  Egypt,  could  ill  be  spared  from  an  industrial  and 
economic  point  of  view. 

Under  the  new  order  of  things  they  were  more  dis- 
tinctly aliens  than  before.  Their  circumcision  covenant 
and  their  tribal  organization,  with  patriarchal  self-gov- 
ernment, and  a  semi-national  organization  of  Seventy 
Elders,  of  which  we  find  evidence,  and  the  instinctive 
racial  hostility  of  the  native  Egyptians,  all  contributed  to 
their   increasing   solidarity.      The   usual   assimilation   of 


128  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

alien  settlers  became  more  and  more  impossible  with 
them. 

This  then  was  the  problem  that  confronted  the  new 
dynasty.  Israel's  rapid  increase  was  a  source  of  danger 
in  time  of  war.  The  loss  of  such  a  population  would 
mean  national  bankruptcy  to  the  Egyptians.  How  shall 
they  be  humbled  and  their  ambitions  blasted ;  and  above 
all,  how  shall  they  be  assimilated  into  the  native  popu- 
lations? David  and  Solomon  grappled  successfully 
with  the  same  problem  in  dealing  with  the  Canaanitish 
peoples  that  still  remained  in  the  land,  conquered  but 
not  yet  absorbed. 

The  king  of  Egypt  reduced  them  to  the  condition  of 
national  slaves  under  severe  taskmasters  and  for  one 
hundred  years  or  more  they  were  drafted  for  hard  labor 
in  brick  and  mortar,  building  treasure  or  storage  cities, 
and  also  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field.  They  were 
made  to  serve  with  rigor.  It  proved  a  dismal  failure. 
"The  more  they  afflicted  them  the  more  they  grew  and 
multiplied." 

He  added  another  device.  He  ordered  the  midwives 
to  destroy  every  male  child  at  its  birth.  This  proved  a 
failure  also.  He  then  ordered  every  male  child  to  be 
thrown  into  the  river,  and  no  doubt  his  minions  made  ac- 
tive search  in  the  land  of  Goshen  to  find  the  hiding  places 
where  mothers  sought  to  save  their  new  born  sons. 

This  was  hardly  an  invention  of  pure  malice,  nor  even 
a  mere  scheme  to  reduce  the  population.  This  would 
be  better  accomplished  by  destroying  the  female  chil- 
dren, a  thing  not  uncommon  in  heathen  lands.  Could 
he  but  destroy  one  generation  of  male  children  he  might 
easily  give  the  females  in  marriage  to  native  Egyptians, 
and  the  work  were  soon  done,  and  the  assimilation  com- 
pleted.    What  hindered?     The  God  of  Providence  and 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  129 

the  faith  of  the  parents  were  on  the  side  of  the  Hebrews. 
There  was  no  lack  of  wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  king — 
a  wisdom  inspired  of  the  devil. 

He  did  achieve  a  partial  success  and  there  was  much 
inter-marriage  between  the  Hebrews  and  Egyptians,  but, 
strange  to  say,  the  "mixed  multitude,"  the  product  of  the 
king's  plan,  cast  in  their  fortunes  with  the  Hebrews 
when  they  went  out  of  the  land. and  were  in  due  course 
assimilated  and  absorbed  into  God's  people. 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  conditions  in  Egypt  will  en- 
able us  the  better  to  understand  the  transitions  in  the 
history  from  Joseph  to  the  Exodus  under  Moses. 

A  very  brief  analysis  of  the  Book  of  Exodus  will  now 
be  sufficient  to  illustrate  and  vindicate  the  exact  place  of 
the  book  in  the  canon  of  Scripture. 

1.  In  Chapter  ii.  i-io,  we  have  the  account  of  the 
birth  of  Moses,  his  early  infancy,  his  adoption  by  Pha- 
raoh's daughter,  his  rearing  at  court  and  his  education 
till  forty  years  old,  none  too  long  for  "all  the  wisdom  of 
the  Egyptians." 

2.  "When  he  was  grown" — forty  years  old — he  es- 
sayed to  identify  himself  with  his  people  for  their  de- 
liverance, but  they  were  not  ready.  Compare  Acts 
vii.  22-28. 

3.  He  fled  before  the  wrath  of  Pharaoh  and  made  his 
home  with  Jethro,  the  prince  and  priest  of  Midian.  There 
he  married  his  daughter  and  dwelt  in  simple  pastoral 
life  in  his  family  after  patriarchal  usage.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  he,  who  was  "mighty  in  words  and  in 
deeds"  before  he  left  Egypt,  spent  forty  years  in  Midian 
as  a  mere  shepherd ;  but  rather,  that  his  pastoral  life  gave 
him  oportunity  for  larger  and  better  preparation  for  the 
last  forty  years  of  his  life.  This  is  the  more  apparent 
if,  as  we  think,  Jethro  was  a  high  priest  of  the  same  order 


130  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

as  Melchizedek.   We  know  that  he  joined  Moses  at  Sinai 
later  on  as  an  inspired  counsellor. 

4.  We  need  here  only  cite  Moses'  commission  at  the 
burning  bush  in  Horeb;  his  return  to  Egypt  joined  by 
his  brother  Aaron ;  his  leadership  recognized  by  his  peo- 
ple and  ratified  by  miracles;  his  demands  on  Pharaoh 
and  the  refusal;  the  signs  and  wonders  in  the  "field  of 
Zoan"  for  a  year  of  conflict  with  the  obstinate  Egyptians ; 
the  battle  of  the  gods  in  which  all  their  gods  were  routed 
and  overthrown ;  and  their  very  hierarchy  swept  away 
in  the  death  of  their  firstborn. 

5.  We  need  barely  to  note  the  Passover,  the  rendez- 
vous at  Succoth,  the  march  to  the  Red  Sea,  the  miracu- 
lous crossing  and  their  arrival  at  Mt.  Sinai,  having  been 
provided  with  manna  and  water  for  their  sojourn  in  the 
desert. 

6.  We  read  next  of  the  portents  at  Mt.  Sinai;  the 
establishment  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth  with  Je- 
hovah as  the  civil  ruler  and  king;  the  delivery  of  the 
moral  law  in  the  summary  of  the  "ten  words";  the  ad- 
justment of  the  family  to  the  state;  and  a  partial  record 
of  civil  and  ceremonial  laws. 

7.  Then  we  find  an  account  of  the  building  of  the 
Tabernacle  according  to  a  God-given  pattern,  and  its  fur- 
niture ;  vestments  for  Aaron  and  his  sons ;  and  directions 
for  their  consecration. 

We  do  not  expect  to  find  any  rounding  up  or  com- 
pletion of  Exodus,  because  the  Book  of  Leviticus  is  but 
a  continuation  of  it  and  the  line  of  separation  is  an  ar- 
bitrary one.  The  line  of  cleavage  seems  to  have  been  the 
finishing  up  of  the  Tabernacle  for  the  close  of  Exodus, 
aiid  the  discussion  of  the  various  offerings  for  the  begin- 
ning of  Leviticus. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  131 

Leviticus — 

This  name  is  given  this  book  because  it  is  mainly  con- 
cerned with  the  duties  of  the  tribe  of  Levi — priests  and 
Levites.  Social  and  ceremonial  laws  are  given  in  minute 
detail.  They  seem  to  be  interlaced  and  put  into  the  most 
intimate  relations  to  each  other,  partly  because  the  social 
and  the  religious  are  most  intimately  related  to  each 
other,  and  partly  because  it  was  not  the  custom  of  an- 
cient writers  to  make  distinct  classifications  where  things 
are  closely  connected.  We  may  make  our  analysis  un- 
der several  heads. 

1.  Rules  for  offerings  of  all  kinds — the  bloody  offer- 
ings and  the  meat  offerings,  the  one  for  atonement  and 
the  other  a  thank  offering.  The  burnt  offering  had  a 
civic  and  theocratic  aspect.  The  sin  offering  atoned  for 
sin  against  God.    The  trespass-offering  was  required  for 

'sins  against  fellow  men  and  it  required  restitution  also. 
The  peace  offering  was  a  festal  offering.  The  thanks- 
giving offering  went  with  all  the  rest.  However,  we  do 
not  propose  comment. 

2.  Then  we  have  the  consecration  of  Aaron  and  his 
sons  as  previously  appointed.  And  also  personal  rules 
for  the  regulation  of  themselves  and  their  families,  all 
of  which  is  eminently  pertinent. 

3.  Then  we  find  dietetic  laws,  modifying  the  dietetic 
laws  of  the  covenant  with  Noah.  This  was  not  for  sani- 
tary purposes  as  some  suppose  and  argue,  but  the  God- 
given  reason  was  to  raise  such  a  social  barrier  as  would 
protect  his  people  from  the  contaminations  of  idolatry. 

4.  The  priests  were  charged  with  certain  sanitary 
laws,  to  discern  leprosy  in  persons  and  things  and  to  pass 
judgment  on  many  similar  forms  of  disease,  all  for  the 
protection  of  society  against  contagion. 


132  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  • 

5.  Along  with  tliis  were  rules  for  ceremonial  defile- 
ments and  for  their  cleansing.  Some  of  these  were  ac- 
tual and  some  merely  symbolic,  but  all  were  a  part  of  a 
typical  system,  and  their  purifications,  both  by  water  and 
by  fire,  were  also  typical  of  spiritual  cleansings  and  per- 
sonal holiness,  which  were  as  important  then  as  now. 

6.  The  book  closes  with  a  full  recital  of  the  three 
great  feasts,  and  other  festal  occasions  such  as  New 
Moons,  the  feast  of  Trumpets  and  the  Great  Day  of 
Atonement.  We  find  in  full  detail  all  the  offerings  and 
other  observances  pertinent  to  them.  The  festal  years 
are  also  defined  and  regulated. 

The  whole  of  this  book  of  Leviticus  is  pertinent  to 
all  that  goes  before,  and  no  integral  part  of  it  could  be 
omitted  without  marring  the  whole. 

And  what  is  more,  the  later  Scriptures  cohere  with 
it.  Were  there  no  Leviticus  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews would  have  no  significance.  What  mean  the 
two  turtle  doves  in  Mary's  visit  to  the  temple  except  as 
expounded  in  Levit.  xii.  1-8?  What  meant  the  official 
sins  of  the  sons  of  the  sons  of  Eli  if  there  were  no 
Levitical  regulations  for  the  distribution  of  the  offer- 
ings? 

Some  object  to  this  book  because  so  much  space  is 
given  to  the  record  of  ceremonies  and  forms  and  so  lit- 
tle to  moral  and  spiritual  teaching.  The  reply  is  two- 
fold. The  whole  ceremonial  law  was  prophecy  in  sym- 
bol and  was  set  forth  in  minute  detail  at  proper  times 
and  places.  The  other  and  more  important  reply  is 
that  its  substance  was  spiritual  and  it  was  used  for 
spiritual  instruction  and  profit.  The  forms  were  not 
mere  forms.  This  matter  has  been  more  fully  elucida- 
ted in  a  previous  chapter. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  133 

Numbers — 

This  section  of  Moses'  book,  called  Numbers,  be-' 
gins  with  the  military  census  of  Israel  made  at  Mount 
Sinai  and  closes  with  a  second  census  at  the  end  of 
forty  years.  It  also  contains  the  religious  census  of 
the  tribe  of  Levi  who  were  taken  in  exchange  for  the 
first  born  of  the  twelve  tribes.  The  duties  assigned 
them  are  recorded  in  the  fourth  chapter. 

Then  chapters  v.  to  ix.  contain  additional  matter  that 
might  have  been  included  in  the  book  of  Leviticus.  The 
transactions  at  Sinai  close  wnth  the  ninth  chapter. 

The  rest  of  the  book  tells  us  of  their  leaving  Sinai; 
their  march  to  Kadesh ;  the  report  of  the  spies ;  their 
failure  to  go  up  and  possess  the  land ;  and  their  sen- 
tence to  spend  forty  years  in  the  wilderness.  This 
book  tells  us  all  we  know  of  the  thirty-nine  years  until 
they  arrived  in  the  plains  of  Moab  and  made  conquest 
of  the  Amorites  and  Bashanites  on  the  East  side  of  the 
river  Jordan. 

In  this  brief  history  we  are  told  of  several  rebel- 
lions, at  Taberah,  at  Kibroth-Hattaavah,  at  Kadesh- 
barnea ;  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram ; 
the  plague  of  the  fiery  serpents.  Out  of  these  things 
came  a  better  settlement  of  church  and  state  in  several 
details.  This  history  leaves  them  on  the  banks  of  the 
Jordan  opposite  Jericho  where  Moses  laid  down  his 
office  and  his  life  also  because  his  sin  at  Kadesh  did  not 
allow  him  to  lead  his  people  into  the  land  of  promise. 

We  hardly  need  pause  to  show  how  this  book  fits  in 
with  all  that  goes  before  it  in  the  historic  unfolding  as 
well  as  in  the  additional  social,  civil,  and  ceremonial 
legislation.  We  can  spare  none  of  it  if  we  would 
rightly  understand  subsequent  events,  and  subsequent 
frequent  references  to  this  period.  Compare  Ps.  xcv. 
and  Hebrews  iii.  7-19. 


134  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Deuteronomy — 

This  book  is  a  many  sided  product  and  ought  to  be 
so  considered  in  our  estimate  of  its  place  and  value. 
Failure  to  appreciate  this  has  led  to  immense  contro- 
versy. 

1.  Considered  from  the  historic  point  of  view  it  is  a. 
recapitulation  of  recent  history,  Chapters  i.  to  iv.  A 
few  new  historical  facts  are  introduced  now  and  then 
such  as  the  naming  of  the  cities  of  refuge. 

2.  Considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  law,  as 
previously  recorded,  it  is  a  recapitulation  in  briefer 
compass,  adding  certain  things  made  necessary  by 
changing  conditions  from  a  sojourn  in  the  wilderness 
to  permanent  homes.  It  also  emphasizes  other  things 
that  were  liable  to  be  misunderstood  or  neglected. 

3.  We  may  also  say  that  this  book  is  a  sort  of  run- 
ning commentary  on  all  that  had  gone  before  from 
Sinai  to  the  plains  of  Moab.  This  was  the  more  neces- 
sary because  the  generation  at  Moab  were  less  than 
twenty  years  old  at  Sinai.  Their  fathers  had  died  in 
the  wilderness.  More  than  half  the  people  were  born 
in  the  desert,  and  all  their  experience  was  limited  to 
nomadic  life. 

4.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the  previous  books  it 
was  a  fitting  conclusion,  a  summing  up,  a  peroration, 
with  applications  and  exhortations. 

5.  Great  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  moral  side  of  all 
legislation.  Purity,  morality,  and  holiness  are  sharply 
set  forth  as  from  the  lips  of  the  preacher,  rather  than 
from  the  pen  of  the  lawgiver. 

6.  From  the  personal  point  of  view  of  Moses  him- 
self, it  is  his  farewell  to  his  people.  He  had  loved 
them  in  all  these  years.     He  had  led  them  through 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  135 

vicissitudes  experienced  by  none  before  nor  since.  He 
had  sometimes  faced  death  at  their  enraged  and  re- 
bellious hands.  And  yet  he  loved  them.  He  had 
asked  God  to  blot  his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life  if  he 
would  only  spare  his  sinning  people.  Now  he  stands 
ready  to  lay  down  his  leadership  and  go  to  his  great 
leader  whose  pillar  of  cloud  he  had  followed  for  forty 
years. 

From  this  point  of  view  we  are  prepared  to  appre- 
ciate the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  book ;  his  paternal  affec- 
tion ;  his  pathetic  memories ;  his  faithful  remon- 
strances ;  his  earnest  exhortations ;  his  warnings  and 
entreaties ;  his  directions  for  the  future ;  and  his  wist- 
ful look  across  the  river  as  he  goes  up  the  mountain  to 
die,  not  alone,  but  holding  sweet  counsel  with  his  Lord 
who  so  tenderly  laid  his  body  away  in  the  unmarked 
grave  in  the  valley  of  Nebo  and  Pisgah. 

The  first  verse  of  the  first  chapter  makes  Moses  the 
author  of  all  that  had  gone  before  and  which  he  had 
spoken  in  the  wilderness.  In  the  fourth  verse  we  are 
told  that  he  spake  again  in  the  fortieth  year  and  on  the 
first  day  of  the  eleventh  month  all  that  the  Lord  com- 
manded him  to  say  to  them. 

On  that  day  he  delivered  the  first  of  a  series  of  pub- 
lic addresses,  found  in  i.  6  to  iv.  40.  The  second  ad- 
dress is  found  in  chapters  v.  to  xxvi.  The  third  em- 
braces xxvii  to  xxxiv. 

They  were  delivered  to  "the  children  of  Israel,"  to 
"all  Israel"  whom  he  called  together,  i.  4;  v.  i.  Were 
these  addresses  delivered  to  popular  assemblies? 
Hardly.  Did  all  Israel  signify  any  considerable  part 
of  the  two  millions  of  people?  Hardly.  They  must 
have  been  delivered  to  the  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple, their  chosen  rulers  who  constituted  the  "congrega- 


136  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

tion"  so  often  spoken  of,  which  consisted  probably  of 
five  or  six  hundred  from  all  the  tribes. 

Joshua  seemed  to  have  followed  Moses'  example  at 
the  close  of  his  life  and  delivered  several  addresses.  We 
learn  from  him  Josh,  xxiii.  2,  and  xxiv.  i  that  "all  Is- 
rael consisted  of  their  heads,  their  elders,  their  officers 
and  their  judges."  "All  the  tribes  of  Israel"  were  pres- 
ent representatively.  So  it  must  have  been  in  the  case 
of  Moses.  He  seems  to  have  spent  this  last  month  of 
the  fortieth  year  in  teaching  and  drilling  the  congrega- 
tion or  congress  in  the  divine  statutes  of  which  they 
were  to  be  the  curators  and  administrators.  Towards 
the  last  the  elders,  "the  seventy,"  seem  to  have  joined 
him  in  this  inspired  teaching. 

We  might  expect  these  public  addresses  to  dififer 
materially  in  style  from  the  simple  historical  style  of 
Genesis  or  the  grander  descriptions  of  Sinai's  scenes, 
or  the  poetic  numbers  of  his  songs.  Moses  was  a 
highly  educated  man,  and  he  would  unconsciously 
adapt  his  vocabulary  and  his  forms  of  expression  to  the 
varied  occasions,  surroundings  and  themes  on  which 
he  wrote  or  spoke. 

In  this  discussion  we  have  sought  to  set  forth  the 
obvious  and  necessary  unity  of  these  five  books  of 
Moses.  The  internal  evidence  seems  conclusive  of 
their  genuineness  and  authenticity  as  against  the  ruth- 
less and  divisive  conceits  of  critics. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Book  of  Job. 

The  Book  of  Job  has  been  a  great  puzzle  to  the 
critics  and  commentators.  They  have  discussed  such 
questions  as  these :  Who  was  the  author  ?  Was  Job  a  real 
person?  Where  did  he  live?  Who  were  his  three 
friends?  Who  was  Elihu?  When  was  the  book  writ- 
ten? What  is  its  object  and  scope?  Why  written 
mainly  in  poetic  form?  What  is  the  value  of  the  several 
discussions?  How  far  were  the  several  speakers  in- 
spired? Why  do  we  consider  the  book  canonical?  Is 
it  not  a  mere  epic  poem  ?  How  did  it  get  into  the  Hebrew 
scriptures?  Why  does  it  contain  no  references  to  other 
books  of  Scripture  ?  '  Was  the  production  of  such  a  book 
possible  from  a  literary  point  of  view  at  an  early  period? 
and  other  similar  questions. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  discuss  all  these  questions 
categorically  in  one  short  chapter.  It  were  not  possible 
to  do  so.  Aside  from  the  destructive  critics,  some  of  the 
ablest  investigators  and  expounders  of  the  Scriptures 
have  wrestled  with  these  questions  and  advocated  a  great 
variety  of  views. 

The  sole  aim  of  this  discussion  is  to  present  the  sur- 
face and  -common  sense  claims  of  the  book  for  the  confir- 
mation of  our  faith  which  is  mayhap  disturbed  by  so 
many  variant  views  avouched  by  such  an  array  of  learn- 
ing. There  is  an  oldfashioned  childlike  faith  which  ac- 
cepts this  book  just  as  it  does  all  the  other  books  of  Scrip- 
ture without  question  or  hesitation.     This   simple   faith 


138  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

is  our  starting  point  and  the  point  to  which  we  return 
from  all  our  incursions  into  the  realm  of  learned  specula- 
tion. Call  you  this  prejudice,  or  credulity,  or  traditional- 
ism, it  still  remains  that  faith  is  closely  allied  to  com- 
mon sense.  The  claims  of  Scripture  are  so  simple  that 
they  are  easily  grasped  by  the  unlearned  and  the  ignorant, 
and  they  are  so  expansive  as  to  satisfy  the  highest  in- 
telligence because  they  all  meet  on  the  common  ground  of 
common  sense. 

I.  Was  Job  a  real  person?  Not,  was  he  probably,  but 
was  he  actually  a  real  person?  The  destructive  critic 
who  is  unable  to  dissect  this  book  into  several  original 
units  ingeniously  dovetailed  into  its  present  form  by  one 
or  more  redactors,  is  obliged  to  recognize  it  as  itself  an 
original  unit,  coherent  in  its  several  parts,  and  true  in 
its  setting,  and  besides,  a  work  of  rare  genius,  and  the 
very  inspiration  of  genius,  worthy  of  one  of  the  greatest 
poets  and  authors. 

He  calls  loudly  for  facts  here  as  in  other  cases  and 
then  proceeds  to  build  up  theories  of  his  own,  based  on 
mere  assumption  and  unproven  hypotheses,  as  if  there 
were  no  facts  except  his  own  fallacies. 

Now  was  Job  a  real  historic  person  or  a  great  East- 
ern ideal,  the  central  figure  and  hero  of  the  world's 
greatest  epic?  "There  was  a  man  in  the  Land  of  Uz, 
whose  name  was  Job  ?"  This  literal  statement  has  been 
accepted  by  Jews  and  Christians  for  several  thousand 
years,  unquestioned  and  unquestionable,  and  has  the 
right  of  way  against  mere  suppositions  and  assumptions. 
Such  acceptance  can  only  be  set  aside  by  facts.  A  few 
corroborative  facts  make  it  impregnable.  There  are  two 
or  perhaps  three  references  to  Job  in  the  Scriptures  out- 
side the  Book  of  Job. 

I.  In  Ezck.  xiv.  14  we  read,  "Though  these  three  men. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  139 

Noah,  Daniel  and  Job  were  in  it,  they  should  deliver  but 
their  own  souls  by  their  righteousness,"  saith  the  Lord 
God.  If  one  of  these  was  a  man  they  were  all  men, 
so  says  common  sense.  Job  is  named  by  God  himself  as 
one  of  the  three  great  men  of  the  ages  most  likely  to  pre- 
vail with  him.  There  is  then  no  reason  to  question  the 
intimate  relations  between  Job  and  his  God  as  recorded 
in  this  book.  The  only  escape  for  the  critic  is  to  say, 
"I  do  not  believe  in  Ezekiel,  nor  in  Ezekiel's  God."  We 
shall  not  follow  him  there. 

2.  In  James  v.  10,  11  we  read,  "Take,  my  brethren, 
the  prophets,  who  have  spoken  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
for  an  example  of  suffering,  affliction  and  patience.  Be- 
hold, we  count  them  happy  who  endure.  Ye  have  heard 
of  the  patience  of  Job,  and  have  seen  the  end  of  the 
Lord,  how  that  the  Lord  is  very  pitiful  and  of  tender 
mercy."  Common  sense  would  find  it  as  easy  to  deny 
the  personality  of  the  prophets  and  of  the  Lord  himself 
in  this  passage,  as  to  deny  that  Job  is  cited  as  a  real  per- 
son— a  most  notable  example  of  suffering,  affliction  and 
endurance. 

3.  The  name  Jobab  is  found  in  Gen.  x.  29,  one  of 
the  thirteen  sons  of  Joktan,  literally  Job  father  or  father 
Job.  Many  commentators  identify  this  Jobab  and  Job. 
His  long  life  would  seem  to  indicate  that  he  belonged 
to  the  long-lived  patriarchs  and  that  he  lived  partly  con- 
temporary with  Nahor  and  grandfather  of  Abraham. 
This  puts  him  too  early  as  we  shall  see.  Besides  there 
is  reason  to  believe  (as  we  shall  see)  that  his  life  was 
doubled  after  his  trials.  If  so  he  belonged  to  the  period 
in  which  the  ages  of  the  patriarchs  somewhat  exceeded 
one  hundred  and  forty  years.  If  then  he  was  a  Joktanite 
Arab  he  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Jobab  and  named  for 
him  just  as  there  are  two  Nahors. 


I40  Selected  Old  Testament  Stltdies 

II.  We  may  now  determine  to  what  people  he  be- 
longed. The  genealogies  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  present  some  difficulties.  Some  adopt 
the  theory  that  they  are  all  personal,  others  say  that  they 
are  entirely  tribal  or  national,  and  that  they  are  named 
according  to  the  order  of  their  geographical  location  as 
distributed  in  Moses'  day.  The  true  theory  is  a  happy 
combination  of  these  two.  They  are  both  personal  and 
national.  Many  of  the  names  are  patronymic — the  name 
of  the  father  given  to  his  descendants.  Thus  Canaanites 
were  descendants  of  Canaan,  Arvadites,  descendants  of 
Arvad,  just  as  Levites  were  descendants  of  Levi  later  on. 
Then  some  are  plural  nouns  as  Ludim,  Caphtorim  i.  e. 
Luds  and  Caphtors,  just  as  we  say  the  Joneses  or  the 
Smiths.  Thus  we  see  that  sons  became  families  and  fam- 
ilies became  tribes  and  nations,  all  named  for  their 
fathers. 

We  may  note  further  that  Aram  and  Joktan  were 
not  only  near  of  kin  but  their  descendants  were  located 
near  each  other  in  the  Arabian  peninsula.  Whether 
Aram's  son  Uz  gave  name  to  the  land  of  Uz  we  may 
not  certainly  say,  but  we  do  know  that  Jeremiah  identi- 
fies Edom  and  Uz,  the  border  land  between  Aram 
(Syria)  and  Joktan  (Arabia).  An  ordinary  antiquarian 
would  now  be  prepared  to  say  that  Job  lived  in  the  land 
of  Uz  before  its  name  was  changed  to  Edom,  and  that 
he  was  either  a  Syrian  or  a  Joktanite,  or  a  Horite,  or  a 
prominent  patriarch  of  some  over  lapping  peoples  of  sim- 
ilar language,  social  life  and  religion. 

III.  We  are  now  prepared  for  a  farther  indentifica- 
tion  of  this  man  by  identifying  his  three  friends  and 
Elihu  the  fourth.  Another  branch  of  the  children  of 
Eber,  the  descendants  of  Terah  and  Nahor,  settled  in 
Aram  of  Syria.     Nahor  had  eight  sons.     The  name  of 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  141 

one  was  Buz.  If  Elihu  was  the  patriarch  or  head  of  a 
family  or  clan  of  Buzites  he  is  properly  called  the  Buzite 
and  not  a  Buzite.  We  may  here  note  that  the  other 
three  are  similarly  designated  by  the  definite  article  in- 
dicating prominence  in  their  families  or  tribes. 

Several  peoples  were  descended  from  Abraham  be- 
sides Israel.  They  settled  in  the  same  general  section, 
some  extending  to  the  Euphrates  on  the  East  and  some  to 
the  Mediterranean  on  the  West  and  to  Egypt  on  the 
South.  They  were  largely  nomadic  and  they  were 
gradually  absorbed  and  assimilated  into  each  other  and 
into  the  peoples  who  antedated  them  in  those  regions. 

1.  The  descendants  of  Esau.  He  first  settled  in  the 
original  Mount  Seir  between  Beersheba  and  the  Dead 
Sea  during  Isaac's  lifetime.  Then  as*  the  son-in-law  of 
"the  Horite"  he  and  his  descendants  soon  dominated  the 
"land  of  Uz"  an  extension  of  the  "hill  country  of  Seir," 
the  country  of  Job.  He  and  his  descendants  gave  name 
to  the  country  and  it  was  called  Edom. 

2.  The  descendants  of  Ishmael.  They  roamed  the 
desert  between  Egypt  and  Palestine.  The  Ishmaelites 
and  the  tribes  assimilated  to  them  are  the  Bedouin  Arabs 
of  to-day  who  call  Ishmael  their  father  and  circumcise 
their  sons  at  the  age  of  thirteen  in  imitation  of  him. 

3.  Several  minor  tribes  were  descended  from  the  sons 
of  Abraham  by  his  second  wife.  They  settled  in  Arabia. 
Some  of  them,  Dedan,  Sheba,  Medan,  and  others  are 
mentioned  later  on  in  the  history  and  their  names  are 
still  perpetuated  and  their  locations  identified  in  the  pen- 
insula. 

4.  The  Midianites  grew  to  be  a  powerful  people,  de- 
scended from  Midian,  Abraham's  fourth  son  by  Keturah. 
They  extended  along  the  borders  of  civilization  from  the 


142  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Siiiaitic  Desert  to  Mesopotamia  and  had  grown  into  a 
powerful  people  in  Moses  day. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  note  here  that  there  are  found 
among  the  numerous  letters  discovered  at  Tel-el- 
Amarna,  some  letters  from  several  places  of  importance 
in  Arabia  confirming  Biblical  names  and  references.  They 
are  written  in  the  Hebrew  language  in  an  ancient  script, 
while  all  the  rest  are  written  in  the  Babylonian  language 
and  in  the  cunieform  script.  This  is  most  significant.  The 
Hebrew  was  a  literary  language  more  than  a  century 
before  the  Exodus,  used  by  the  peoples  among  whom 
Job  lived  and  with  whom  Moses  was  in  contact  forty 
years  in  his  exile  and  forty  years  more  in  the  Wilder- 
ness, he  and  his  people.  Now  what  hinders  that  Moses 
wrote  the  Pentateuch  in  Hebrew  in  that  same  ancient 
script,  or  that  the  book  of  Job  was  written  there  a  cen- 
tury before? 

IV.  Who  was  Eliphaz  the  Temanite?  Evidently  an 
Edomite  who  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Uz.  Esau's  first  born 
son  was  Eliphaz.  He  had  five  sons.  Teman  was  his 
first  born.  The  amalgamated  Edomites  and  Horites  had 
twenty-one  family  or  tribal  subdivisions — Esau  fourteen, 
Seir,  seven.  They  had  military  heads  called  "dukes" 
named  after  their  grandsons.  It  is  evident  therefore  that 
the  Eliphaz  of  Job  was  a  high  official  among  the  Tem- 
anites. 

We  learn  from  Jer.  xlix.  7  that  Teman  was  once  fa- 
mous for  their  wisdom.  Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  there- 
fore was  a  typical  Edomite  prince  and  we  need  not  be 
surprised  at  his  utterances  as  recorded  in  the  Book 
of  Job. 

Bildad  the  Shuhite,  another  peer  of  Job  as  well  as 
friend,  was  a  descendant  of  Shuah,  a  son  of  Abraham, 
and  a  high  official  in  the  family  or  tribe  named  for  him, 
whose  home  was  in  this  same  section. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  143 

Zophar  the  Naamathite,  one  of  the  trio,  and  a  friend 
and  peer  of  Job,  is  not  so  easily  located.  Sayce,  how- 
ever, assures  us  that  one  of  the  letters  of  Tel-el-Amarna 
was  written  from  a  place  corresponding  to  this  patrony- 
mic in  the  century  previous  tO'  the  Exodus. 

V.  We  cannot  overrate  the  importance  of  the  follow- 
ing items : 

1.  Job  was  a  patriarch  priest  of  a  hierarchy  that  an- 
tedated the  Aaronic  priesthood,  and  in  which  all  the 
patriarchs  served  prior  to  the  universal  apostasy  outside 
of  Israel.  His  seven  sons  and  three  daughters  had  set- 
tled ofif  to  themselves ;  but  he  continued  to  sanctify  them 
and  their  families  and  offered  burnt  offerings  according 
to  the  number  of  them  all.  For  Job  said,  "it  may  be  that 
Ihey  have  sinned  and  cursed  God  in  their  hearts." 

2.  Eliphaz,  Bildad,  Zophar,  and  Elihu  worshipped  the 
Lord  and  professed  to  speak  in  his  name.  There  is  no 
hint  of  Polytheism  or  Paganism  inside  the  book. 

3.  They  all  discuss  the  profoundest  questions  of  hu- 
man experience  in  an  absolutely  exhaustive  way.  They 
discuss  all  the  questions  that  pertained  to  conditions  then 
before  them,  precipitated  upon  Job  by  Satan.  These  dis- 
cussions were  also  final  on  all  the  points  they  touch,  and' 
the  questions  there  settled  are  nowhere  re-opened  in  the 
Scriptures  except  by  quotation  or  by  mere  categorical 
statement.  In  this  respect  it  is  the  most  wonderful  book 
in  the  Bible. 

4.  The  inspiration  of  them  all,  so  distinctly  recognized 
in  the  New  Testament,  was  evidently  part  of  their  func- 
tions as  patriarchal  priests.  The  oracle  belonged  to  the 
priesthood  as  an  official  function  to  be  used  on  occasion, 
and  to  the  extent  of  the  divine  will  and  pleasure.  In 
other  respects  they  were  subject  to  the  same  mistakes 


144  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

and  infirmities  as  other  men,  as  may  be  plainly  seen  in  the 
case  of  Balaam,  a  great  high  priest  of  the  Midianites. 

VI.  We  are  now  prepared  to  give  to  Job  and  the  ac- 
tors in  that  drama  a  "local  habitation  and  name."  He 
lived  in  Edom,  South  East  of  the  Dead  Sea.  He  was 
a  Hebrew,  possibly  a  descendant  of  Joktan,  though  we 
may  not  base  the  argument  on  the  name  Jobab,  be- 
cause one  of  the  kings  of  Edom  was  named  Jobab ; 
though  this  king  may  have  been  a  descendant  of  Seir 
the  Horite  who  must  have  been  a  Joktanite  Arab,  hav- 
ing also  the  blood  of  Esau. 

It  is  much  more  likely,  however,  that  he  was  an 
Edomite  descendant  of  Abraham,  for  his  three  most  in- 
timate friends  and  peers  were  descendants  of  Abraham. 
They  lived  about  a  century  before  the  Exodus.  They 
were  of  nomadic  peoples  and  their  wealth  consisted  of 
flocks  and  herds.  They  dwelt  in  houses  as  well  as  in 
tents,  and  also  built  towns  and  cities  as  they  have  done 
in  all  the  ages  in  the  Arabian  Peninsula.  The  Sabeans 
who  fell  upon  Job's  flocks  and  herds  are  not  unknown  to 
early  history.  Job  and  his  friends  and  their  immediate 
peoples  had  not  entered  upon  the  general  apostasy  from 
the  worship  of  Jehovah.  We  need  not  repeat  all  the 
circumstances  and  hints  which  all  cohere  in  justifying  the 
location  of  this  book  as  we  have  set  forth. 

VII.  If,  however,  there  be  any  flaw  in  this  argument ; 
indeed,  if  we  had  not  the  materials  with  which  to  con- 
struct any  argument,  the  book  is  and  ought  to  be  a  suf- 
ficient witness  in  itself,  in  its  internal  evidences.  Then 
it  is  a  part  of  the  Old  Testament  Canon  duly  accredited 
to  the  Jews  who  have  transmitted  it  to  us.  That  Canon 
is  still  further  accredited  to  us  in  that  Christ  and  his 
apostles  base  all  their  claims  on  it.    The  contents  of  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  145 

book  are  of  supreme  value  whether  we  know  anything 
of  its  origin  or  not  except  what  appears  in  the  book  itself. 

VIII.  Its  poetic  form  is  no  objection  to  its  historicity 
as  some  suppose.  We  expect  simple  narrative  to  be  told 
in  simple  prose.  So  it  is  in  Job.  The  first  part  of  the 
book  and  the  last  part  also  are  written  in  simple  prose— 
a  narrative  of  events.  The  discussion  of  great  and  noble 
themes  may  be  written  either  in  prose  or  poetry.  Miltonic 
prose  is  grand  when  discussing  worthy  themes.  Miltonic 
poetry  is  grander  still  because  of  its  yet  grander  themes. 
The  world's  greatest  epic  is  its  first  and  its  themes  are  the 
grandest,  culminating  in  the  Creator's  own  account  of 
his  handywork. 

It  has  been  innocently  asked  if  Job  and  his  three 
friends  made  set  speeches  in  poetry,  replying  to  each 
other,  back  and  fourth.  Of  course  not.  But  they  were 
discussing  the  most  exalted  themes  which  were  best  re- 
corded in  poetic  numbers  by  the  historian.  That  his- 
torian was  an  eye  witness  and  heard  it  all — a  poet  of  un- 
rivalled skill  and  power.  Milton  wrote  under  the  so-called 
inspiration  of  genius.  This  poet  wrote  under  the  super- 
added inspiration  of  the  divine  Spirit,  who  presided  in 
all  the  discussions,  and  stood  sponsor  for  the  recording 
and  transmission  of  His  own  truth. 

IX.  The  question  recurs,  who  was  that  poet?  Who 
was  the  author  of  the  book?  The  book  does  not  say. 
Tradition  for  nearly  four  thousand  years  says  Job  him- 
self. If  some  one  could  bring  proof  from  contempo- 
raneous sources  that  a  sixth  man  gathered  the  materials 
from  original  sources  it  would  only  prove  that  there  was 
one  more  great  man  of  the  ages  than  we  had  known  be- 
fore. 

It  would  hardly  please  any  one  to  substitute  Eliphaz, 


146  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

or  Bildad,  or  Zophar,  or  Elihu  for  Job  as  the  author, 
though  each  one  of  these  was  intimately  connected  with 
all  that  is  recorded.  It  will  hardly  do  to  suggest  that 
Satan  was  the  author  in  the  person  of  some  pious  fraud 
or  forger. 

But  why  seek  another  author  than  Job?  It  seems 
strange  that  any  man  who  has  read  the  book  should  seek 
another.  It  is  a  thrilling  personal  record  of  personal  ex- 
periences, sorrow,  bereavement,  suffering,  slander,  and 
agonies,  carried  to  the  utmost  limit  of  Satanic  ingenuity 
and  malice.  We  read  his  hopes  and  his  fears,  his  pathetic 
appeals,  his  views  of  death  and  a  future  life,  his  wither- 
ing sarcasms,  his  personal  vindication  and  his  divine  ac- 
ceptance and  approval.  He  tells  the  story  as  no  one  else 
could  do,  who  had  not  drunk  the  cup  to  the  very  dregs. 
Yet  he  tells  it  simply.  There  is  no  trace  of  egotism  or 
pride  or  self-righteousness  or  boasting  in  view  of  his 
vindication  and  subsequent  prosperity. 

We  shall  consider  the  book  itself  and  its  contents  in 
the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Job  Continued — Its  Contents. 

The  first  two  chapters  are  simple  narrative  prose 
setting  forth  the  conditions  and  circumstances  under 
which  the  discussions  of  the  book  took  place.  The  nar- 
rative is  kept  up  throughout  in  brief  interjected  lines 
of  prose  such  as  these,  "Then  Eliphaz  answered  and 
said ;"  "Then  answered  Bildad  the  Shuhite  and  said ;" 
"But  Job  answered  and  said,"  and  so  on  till  we  reach 
chapter  xxxii.  where  we  find  six  verses  of  prose  intro- 
ducing a  new  speaker,  Elihu,  the  Buzite.  Then  there  are 
several  interjected  lines  of  prose  dividing  his  discus- 
sion, "Elihu  spake  moreover  and  said,"  and  such  like, 
five  times. 

These  and  similar  short  prose  statements,  like 
hooks,  bind  all  the  parts  together  till  we  reach  the 
seventh  verse  of  the  last  chapter  where  we  find  prose 
narrative  to  the  end. 

We  discussed  in  the  last  chapter  the  personality  and 
identity  of  Job  and  his  friends,  their  location,  their  offi- 
cial positions,  their  religion,  their  modes  and  forms  of 
worship,  their  inspiration  and  such  like,  as  suggested 
in  the  book. 

We  may  say  of  Job  that  he  was  a  very  rich  man  in 
flocks  and  herds  and  in  the  peculiar  wealth  of  the  East. 
We  see  from  xlii.  ii  that  his  circle  of  kinspeople  and 
acquaintances  was  very  wide  and  numerous,  so  that 
their  contributions  of  gold  pieces  and  ear-rings  of  gold 
gave  him  a  new  start  in  life,  and  laid  the  foundations  of 


148  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

his  great  wealth — double  what  it  was  before.  The 
statement  is  that  he  was  the  greatest  of  the  men  of  the 
East.  Even  down  to  Solomon's  time  the  children  of 
the  East  (the  Arab  peoples,  Bedouins  and  Joktanites) 
were  distinguished  for  great  wisdom,  so  that  Solomon 
was  only  "Primus  inter  pares."  Compare  i  Kings 
iv.  31. 

He  was  so  exalted  in  character  that  "there  were 
none  like  him  in  the  earth,  a  perfect  man  and  an  up- 
right, one  that  feareth  God  and  escheweth  evil."  i.  8; 
ii.  3.  This  is  God's  testimony  to  his  character.  We 
need  hardly  to  explain  here  that  these  terms  do  not 
mean  sinless  perfection  but  the  most  exalted  form  of 
human  righteousness,  signalized  by  divine  commenda- 
tion and  complacency.  In  i.  6  we  read  this  simple 
statement,  "Now  there  was  a  day  when  the  Sons  of 
God  came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord,  and 
Satan  came  also  among  them."  Now  who  is  Satan? 
The  answer  is  easy,  "The  Devil."  Who  is  the  Devil? 
Any  child  will  answer.  One  of  the  fallen  angels — their 
head  and  chief.  Now  what  do  we  know  of  him?  Of 
his  malignity  and  power?  He  is  the  serpent  of  Gene- 
sis, the  Dragon  of  Revelation,  Abaddon  in  the  He- 
brew, Apollyon  in  the  Greek,  the  Destroyer,  the  tempt- 
er, a  roaring  lion,  the  prince  of  this  world,  the  prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  worketh  in  the  chil- 
dren of  disobedience,  an  angel  of  light,  the  father  of 
lies  and  liars,  the  god  of  this  world,  the  adversary,  the 
deceiver,  the  prince  of  darkness,  the  tormentor,  the 
slanderer,  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  the  deceiver  of 
nations  as  well  as  individuals.  He  is  subtle,  active, 
diligent,  malicious,  plausible  and  deceitful.  He  origi- 
nated sin,  ruin,  and  death  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  and 
has  withstood  every  step  in  the  divine  plan  of  redemp- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  149 

tion.  His  power  over  nature,  human  diseases,  and 
wicked  peoples  seems  to  be  limited  only  by  infinite 
power.  His  hosts  of  fallen  angels  of  whom  he  is  the 
recognized  head  are  called  "principalities  and  powers." 

This  sketch  of  Satan  is  gathered  from  the  entire 
Scriptures  and  many  another  touch  to  the  picture 
might  be  added  from  the  same  source.  God  and  Satan 
have  been  enemies  from  the  beginning,  as  set  forth  in 
the  protevangelion.  The  Lord,  Jehovah,  Christ,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  Satan  on  the  other,  fought  their  battles 
over  Job,  and  we  have  the  record  of  the  struggle  and 
the  victory.  It  is  easy  now  to  recognize  Satan's  de- 
vices as  recorded  in  this  book.  No  one  who  believes 
the  Bible  at  all  can  stagger  at  what  we  read  of  Satan's 
malignity,  cunning  and  power  in  the  oldest  Biblical 
record. 

Some  stumble  at  the  statement  that  Satan  appeared 
before  God  along  with  the  Sons  of  God  and  was  treated 
courteously.  Why  not?  His  impudence  has  ever  been 
supreme.  He  and  his  followers  had  not  yet  been 
finally  cast  out  of  heaven,  if  we  rightly  interpret  Rev. 
xii.  7.  We  need  hardly  quote  Christ's  words  in  Luke 
X.  18  as  given  in  the  revised  version  which  cohere  with 
John's  vision  of  things  to  come — Christ  only  teaches 
the    certainty   and   suddenness   of   Satan's   overthrow. 

When  the  Lord  asked,  "Whence  comest  thou?"  he 
answered  with  characteristic  evasion  just  as  his  chil- 
dren do  to-day  when  asked  similar  questions,  i.  7. 

We  may  say  here  that  we  must  make  our  quota- 
tions as  brief  as  possible,  sometimes  for  substance,  and 
sometimes  merely  by  chapter  and  verse  because  of  the 
necessary  brevity  of  this  discussion.  We  may  now 
take  up  the  story. 

In  reply  to  the  Lords"  challenge  Satan  slandered 


150  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Job  by  impugning  his  motives.  "Doth  Job  serve  God 
for  naught  ?"  He  could  afford  it  seeing  that  the  Lord 
had  prospered  him  so.  "Touch  all  that  he  hath  and 
he  will  curse  thee  to  thy  face."  God  bade  Satan  to  do 
his  worst  upon  him,  only  he  could  not  touch  his  person. 

Satan  went  out  and  stirred  up  the  Sabeans,  and  the 
lightning  fires,  and  the  Chaldeans,  and  the  tornado, 
and  in  one  short  day  every  thing  was  swept  away,  in- 
cluding his  seven  sons  and  three  daughters  and  their 
families. 

Job  rent  his  mantle  in  an  agony  of  grief  and  fell  on 
his  face  and  worshipped  and  said,  "The  Lord  gave  and 
the  Lord  hath  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the 
Lord.  In  all  this  Job  sinned  not  nor  charged  God  fool- 
ishly." So  Job  was  vindicated  against  Satan's  slander, 
charging  mercenary  motives  in  his  service,    i.  8-22. 

Not  satisfied  Satan  came  again  before  the  Lord,  and 
in  reply  to  a  second  challenge  concerning  Job  he  saiJ, 
"Skin  for  skin,  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his 
life."  "Touch  his  bone  and  his  flesh  and  he  will  curse 
thee  to  thy  face."  The  Lord  said,  "He  is  in  thy  hand ; 
but  save  his  life."  The  preservation  of  his  life  was 
necessary  to  his  final  vindication.  This  second  asper- 
sion of  Satan  was  most  malignant.  It  charged  him 
with  a  low  and  stupid  selfishness,  below  the  brutes 
even,  that  takes  no  account  of  high  and  noble  senti- 
ments, if  only  the  precious  body  can  escape  suffering, 
ii.  I-  6. 

Satan  did  his  worst  on  him  because  this  was  a  fight 
to  the  finish — the  vindication  or  the  condemnation  of 
the  righteous  for  all  time.  He  "smote  Job  with  sore 
boils  from  the  sole  of  his  foot  to  his  crown ;"  and  in 
disgust  his  wife  joined  the  tempter  and  bade  him 
"curse  God  and  die.'     May  we  not  suppose  that  Satan 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  151 

stirred  her  up  against  him?  But  Job  rebuked  her  folly 
and  said,  What?  Shall  we  receive  good  from  the  hand 
of  the  Lord  and  shall  we  not  receive  evil?  In  all  this 
did  not  Job  sin  with  his  lips,"  We  need  not  stop  here 
to  solve  the  theological  paradox  which  ascribes  the 
deeds  of  wicked  men  and  devils  to  the  directing  hand 
of  God.     ii.  7-10. 

Job's  three  friends  and  peers  heard  of  his  sad  plight 
and  came  by  appointment  to  mourn  with  him  and  to 
comfort  him.  When  they  saw  him  disfigured  beyond 
recognition  they  were  struck  dumb  with  horror;  they 
rent  their  mantles  and  sat  down  on  the  ground  and 
spoke  not  a  word  for  seven  days  and  seven  nights,  ii. 
11-13. 

I.  At  the  end  of  the  seven  days  Job  broke  the 
silence  in  a  sort  of  soliloquy  extorted  from  him  by  his 
bereavements,  sufferings  and  anguish.  We  need  make 
no  apology,  either  here  or  elsewhere  in  the  book,  for 
poetic  license  and  high  wrought  figures  of  speech  in- 
wrought and  elaborated  by  the  poet  who  translated 
these  conversations  into  poetic  numbers. 

1.  Job  curses  his  day,  and  the  night  of  his  birth. 
Some  imagine  that  in  this  Job  sinned  and  that  so  far 
Satan  was  victorious.  But  when  we  examine  what  he 
said  we  find  nothing  irreverant,  vindictive  or  profane, 
iii.  1-12. 

2.  He  praises  death,  a  goal  and  refuge  to  be  de- 
sired, "where  the  wicked  cease  from  trembling  and  the 
weary  are  at  rest."  iii.  13-19.  We  may  compare  Paul's 
yearning  to  "depart  and  be  with  Christ."  Phil.  i.  23. 
We  may  also  cite  John's  vision  of  the  blessed  contrast. 
Rev.  xxii.  3-5. 

3.  He  complains  of  life — its  apprehensions,  its  fears, 


152  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

its  realization  of  sorrow  and  suffering,  iii.  20-26.  Paul 
was  no  mere  theorist  when  he  spoke  of  "This  present 
evil  world."     Tit.  ii.  12. 

If  any  critic  is  disposed  to  censure  Job  for  any  of 
these  utterances  or  his  utterances  later  on  we  refer  him 
in  advance  to  xlii.  7.  The  critic  is  sometimes  "wise 
above  what  is  written." 

II.  Eliphaz  the  Temanite  replied  indirectly  to  Job's 
soliloquy.  Chapters  4  and  5.  Before  proceeding  fur- 
ther we  may  here  note  Satan's  masterly  tactics  to 
drive  Job  to  despair,  with  a  refinement  of  cruelty 
worthy  of  the  Arch  Fiend.  These  friends  of  Job  knew 
nothing  of  the  cause  and  origin  of  all  this.  They 
could  only  have  gotten  it  by  divine  revelation  and  this 
had  not  been  given  them.  They  were  left  to  their  un- 
aided human  judgment,  prophets  though  they  were  on 
occasion,  and  learned  in  divine  truth.  With  Satan's 
help,  undetected,  they  misjudged  Job  and  the  signifi- 
cance of  his  misfortunes.  Their  charity  failed  them, 
and  they  turned  their  batteries  of  divine  truth  against 
him.  They  preached  at  him.  They  preached  the 
truth,  but  it  did  not  fit  Job's  case.  If  they  had  mis- 
quoted or  perverted  the  truth  or  uttered  false  doctrines 
their  shafts  would  have  fallen  harmless  on  his  head. 
Satan  still,  to-day,  drives  the  weak  and  suffering  Chris- 
tian almost  to  dispair  by  using  the  most  precious 
truths  of  Scripture  to  prove  him  God  forsaken.  What 
a  fearful  alchemist  the  devil  is.     Oh,  the  cruelty  of  it ! 

I.  Eliphaz  reminds  Job  how  often  he  had  "instruct- 
ed many;"  "strengthened  the  hands;"  "upholding  him 
that  was  falling;  and  strengthened  the  feeble  knees." 
"But  now  it  has  come  upon  thee,  and  thou  faintest;  it 
touchest  thee,  and  thou  art  troubled."     So  they  said  of 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  153 

Christ  on  the  cross,"  He  saved  others,  himself  he  can- 
not save."  There  must  be  a  reason  for  it — his  rehgion 
is  not  equal  to  the  stress,  iv.  1-6. 

2.  He  preaches  that  divine  judgments  are  for  the 
wicked  only.  "They  that  plow  iniquity,  and  sow 
wickedness,  shall  reap  the  same."  And  in  Prov.  xxii. 
8  we  read,  "He  that  soweth  iniquity  shall  reap  vanity." 
And  in  Gal.  vi.  7,  "Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap  etc."  Solomon  and  Paul  merely  cite, 
even  if  they  do  not  actually  quote,  what  Eliphaz  elabo- 
rates and  confirms  out  of  his  own  observation. 

3.  He  condemns  Job  with  a  vision — a  wondrous 
thrilling  vision,  which  made  all  his  bones  to  shake  with 
trembling,  and  the  hair  of  his  flesh  to  stand  up :  and  the 
spirit  passed  before  his  face — an  image  half  discerned — 
a  silence^a  voice,  which  culminated  in  the  same  lesson 
of  the  divine  judgments.  How  far  true?  Absolutely 
and  eternally  true.  Where  was  the  mistake?  In  as- 
suming that  Job's  suffering  were  judgments.  The 
scriptures  nowhere  teach  that  the  sufferings  of  the  right- 
eous are  divine  judgments  sent  for  their  destruction, 
iv.  12-21. 

4.  He  then  proceeds  to  discuss  the  providential 
origin  of  troubles,  just  as  of  all  things  else,  v.  1-16. 
"Affliction  cometh  not  forth  of  the  dust,  neither  doth 
trouble  spring  out  of  the  ground;"  "Man  is  born  into 
trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upwards ;"  "He  giveth  rain 
upon  the  earth  and  sendeth  waters  upon  the  fields."  It 
seems  as  if  Eliphaz  half  repents  of  the  sternness  of  his 
message,  or  that  the  spirit  guided  him  unconsciously 
to  utter  some  precious  words  of  comfort  for  his  suffer- 
ing friend. 

5.  To   this   end   he    presents    and    elaborates    most 


154  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

beautifully  the  true  doctrine  of  the  sufferings  of  the 
righteous,  v.  17-27.  "Behold,  happy  is  the  man  whom 
God  correcteth ;  Therefore  despise  not  thou  the  chas- 
tening of  the  Almighty;"  "Thou  shall  come  to  thy 
grave  in  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh  in  his 
season."  Paul  simply  quotes,  confirms  and  applies  all 
this  in  Heb.  xii.  5-8.  There  are  beautiful  parallelisms 
to  this  in  the  Psalms. 

III.  Job  answered. 

1.  He  renews  his  soliloquy,  bewailing  his  sorrows 
and  his  woes  under  the  afflicting  hand  of  God.  vi.  1-13. 
"The  arrows  of  the  Almighty  are  within  me  ;"  "Oh  that 
I  might  have  my  request ;"  "Even  that  it  would  please 
God  to  destroy  me ;  that  he  would  let  loose  his  hand 
and  cut  me  ofif." 

2.  He  bewails  the  unkindness  of  his  friends  from 
whom  he  had  a  right  to  expect  sympathy  even  though 
he  had  not  asked  them  for  help  in  his  extremity.  In- 
stead, they  now  rebuked  his  conscious  integrity,  vi. 
14-30. 

3.  He  renews  his  soliloquy  and  plaint  before  God. 
vii.  1-21, — his  wearisome  days,  his  tedious  tossing 
nights ;  his  broken  skin  and  loathsome  flesh ;  his  hope- 
less life,  his  loathing  of  it ;  and  his  desire  for  release  in 
death,  with  the  forgiveness  of  all  his  transgressions. 
We  need  hardly  quote. 

IV.  Bildad,  the  Shuhite,  growing  bolder,  reproves 
Job  and  condemns  his  utterances  as  an  empty  mighty 
wind.     viii.  i,  2. 

I.  He  argues  God's  justice.  "Doth  God  pervert 
judgment?  or  doth  the  Almighty  pervert  justice?"  "If 
thou  wert  pure  and  upright ;  sure  now  he  would  awake 
for  thee."     viii.  3-10. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  155 

2.  He  proclaims  the  doom  of  hypocrites,  viii.  11-22. 
"The  hypocrite's  hope  shall  perish."  "He  shall  lean  on 
his  house  but  it  shall  not  stand,"  and  so  on.  Christ 
preached  the  same  doctrine  when  denouncing  the 
Pharisees.  Herein  was  the  difference.  They  were  con- 
victed hypocrites.  Job  was  not,  for  he  was  to  be  vin- 
dicated and  all  God's  people  with  him. 

V.  Job's  reply. 

1.  He  admits  his  sinfulness  and  personal  unworthiness 
before  God,  as  he  had  already  done.  He  seems  almost 
to  revel  in  self  abasement  before  his  God  of  infinite 
power,  glory  and  holiness.  This  is  the  exact  attitude 
of  the  righteous  in  all  ages.  But  this  is  not  what  Sa- 
tan and  his  three  friends  charged  him  with.  One  quo- 
tation may  suffice;  "If  I  justify  myself,  my  own  mouth 
shall  condemn  me ;  if  I  say  I  am  perfect,  it  shall  also 
prove  me  perverse."     ix.  1-35. 

2.  He  turns  away  from  his  friends  and  expostulates 
with  God,  and  craves  respite  from  his  sufferings,  x.  i- 
22.  Expostulation  is  a  legitimate  form  of  prayer. 
Many  and  varied  are  the  pleas  it  makes.  Its  faith  and 
confidence  are  based  on  the  mercy,  goodness,  sympa- 
thy, love  and  power  of  his  God.  It  craves  and  sooner 
or  later  finds  the  reasons  of  his  mysterious  providence. 
Expostulation?  "Return,  O  Lord,  how  long?  and  let 
it  repent  thee  concerning  thy  servants."    Ps.  xc.  12. 

VI.  Zophar,  the  Naamathite,  took  his  turn,  having 
lost  his  temper  meanwhile. 

I.  He  rebukes  Job  as  a  liar,  xi.  1-3.  "Should  thy 
lies  make  men  hold  their  piece?  and  when  thou  mock- 
est  shall  no  man  make  thee  ashamed?"  A  brutal 
charge.  How  strange  that  Satan  is  sometimes  allowed 
to  pervert  the  sober  common  sense  of  good  men ! 


156  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

2.  He  cites  God  as  a  witness  against  Job.  "O  that 
God  would  speak  and  open  his  Hps  against  thee."  And 
he  gives  a  splendid  tribute  to  his  inscrutable  being, 
wisdom  and  power,  xi.  5-12. 

3.  He  recommends  repentance  toward  God  and  his 
forgiveness  and  reconciliation  in  terms  worthy  of  Ezekiel 
or  John  the  Baptist,  xi.  13-20.  He  did  not  see  however 
that  the  remedy  he  offered  was  not  pertinent  to  the  case 
in  hand. 

Vn.  Job  is  now  so  thoroughly  aroused  that  he  seems 
to  forget  his  sufiferings  and  rises  to  the  situation,  with 
all  the  indignation  of  conscious  innocence  and  integrity. 

1.  He  rebukes  their  self-righteousness  and  conceit 
with  well  deserved  sarcasm.  "No  doubt  ye  are  the  peo- 
ple and  wisdom  will  die  with  you.  But  I  have  under- 
standing as  well  as  you ;  I  am  not  inferior  to  you ;  yea, 
who  knoweth  not  such  things  as  these?"  Your  doctrines 
are  the  merest  truisms — the  common  property  of  all.  He 
brings  against  them  yet  still  heavier  batteries  of  Divine 
truth,  which  we  need  not  now  analyze,  until  he  reached 
his  climax  proven,  "Ye  are  all  forgers  of  lies,  ye  are 
all  physicians  of  no  value."    xii.  1-25  and  xiii.  1-12. 

2.  He  asseverates  his  confidence  in  God  in  all  his 
afflictions ;  "yea  though  he  slay  me  yet  will  I  trust  him ;" 
"Behold  now  I  have  ordered  my  cause,  and  I  know  that 
I  shall  be  justified."    xiii.  13-28. 

3.  And  his  confidence  would  be  unshaken  in  death 
(Chapter  xiv.).  We  need  only  say,  this  fourteenth  of 
Job  and  the  fourteenth  of  John  do  furnish  consolation 
to  this  day  to  every  bereaved  and  suffering  child  of  God. 

We  may  remind  the  reader  that  this  is  not  intended  to 
be  a  commentary  on  the  Book  of  Job.  We  have  made 
the  analvsis  thus  far  somewhat  elaborate  in  order  to  find 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  157 

the  key  to  the  book — its  object,  scope,  significance,  and 
vakie.    We  may  now  proceed  more  rapidly. 

VIII.  Eliphaz'  rejoiner. 

1.  He  tortures  Job's  confession  of  sinfuhiess  before 
God  into  a  confession  of  absolute  wickedness,  and  he 
charges  impiety :  "Thine  own  tongue  condemneth  thee, 
and  not  I;  thine  own  lips  testify  against  thee."    xv.  1.-16. 

2.  Then  he  shows  the  unrest  of  the  wicked  as  con- 
firmed by  his  own  experience,  xv.  17-35.  No  doubt  of 
it,  but  did  it  apply  to  Job? 

IX.  Job's  reply. 

1.  He  shows  their  unexcusable  cruelty,  such  as  he 
himself  would  not  be  guilty  of.  "Miserable  comforters 
are  ye  all."     xvi.  1-5. 

2.  He  shows  them  his  pitiful  case,  exhausting  lang- 
uage to  tell  it,  and  yet  the  half  is  not  told.    xvi.  6-16. 

3.  He  pleads  his  innocence.  "No  injustice  is  in  my 
hands;  my  prayer  is  pure."    xvi.  17-22. 

4.  He  renews  his  soliloquy  reciting  his  sorrow  and 
suffering.     Chapter  xvii. 

X.  Bildad's  rejoiner. 

1.  He  charged  Job  with  empty  words,  impudence  and 
futile  anger,     xviii.  1-4. 

2.  He  then  enlarges  on  the  calamities  of  the  wicked, 
xviii.  5-21. 

XI.  Job's  answer  to  Bildad. 

1.  He  complains  of  the  cruelty,  neglect  and  scorn,  of 
friends,  servants,  wife,  and  the  rabble.  "Even  little  chil- 
dren despise  me."     xix.  1-20. 

2.  He  pleads  for  sympathy.     "Have  pity  on  me,  have 


158  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

pity  upon  me,  O  my  friends ;  for  the  hand  of  God  hath 
touched  me."     xxi.  21,  22. 

3.  His  only  hope  is  the  redeemer  and  the  resurrection. 
The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  dates  far  back  in  the 
ages.  The  Egyptians  of  that  period  embalmed  their  dead 
in  hope  thereof,  and  to  cheat  the  worm  which  Job  did  not 
expect  to  do.    xix.  25-27. 

XII.  Zophar,  in  reply,  reiterates,  in  varied  terms, 
.the  doom  of  the  wicked,     xx.  9-29. 

XIII.  Job  confutes  his  covert  assumptions  by  citing 
the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  the  sufferings  of  the 
righteous  and  the  future  judgment,  xxi.  1-34.  Com- 
pare Ps.  xxxvii.  35,  36;  Ixiii.  3-12. 

XIV.  For  present  purposes  we  need  not  follow  the 
discussion  further  except  to  say  in  a  general  way,  Job's 
three  friends  grew  more  and  more  offensive  in  trying  to 
overwhelm  him  with  assum.ptions  of  his  great  sinful- 
ness until  he  was  driven  to  recount  his  abounding 
works  of  righteousness,  and  his  watchful  control  of 
heart  and  eyes  lest  he  sin  against  God  and  bring  re- 
proach upon  himself  and  his  God.  He  appealed  to 
God  to  vindicate  his  righteous  life,  and  he  defied  them 
to  name  a  single  scandalous  sin  before  God  or  man. 
The  controversy  waxed  more  and  more  bitter  till  he  so 
confuted  them  that  their  mouths  were  stopped.  Chap- 
ters xxii  to  xxxi. 

They  ceased  to  answer  Job  because  they  said  he  was 
self  righteous — "righteous  in  his  own  eyes" — a  far  dif- 
ferent charge  from  that  with  which  they  set  out. 
xxxii.  I. 

XV.  Elihu,  the  Buzite,  was  evidently  present  du- 
ring all  these  discussions.     He  was  a  young  man.     It 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  159 

is  probable  that  he  had  come  into  his  official  position 
only  lately.  He  was  evidently  a  strong  man  apart 
from  his  inspiration,  but  impetuous  and  conceited.  His 
bearing  to  all  parties  was  rude  and  even  insolent,  xxxii. 
2-24.  He  claimed  to  have  the  spirit  of  God  and  to 
speak  for  God.  Indeed  his  discussions  and  elabora- 
tions of  truth  so  far  exceeded  the  three  old  men  that 
some  commentators  have  imagined  that  he  was  the 
second  person  of  the  trinity  in  theophanic  presence. 

It  is  not  out  of  place  here  to  repeat  a  former  coveat 
Inspiration  was  always  limited  to  the  divine  purpose, 
both  in  the  matter  and  measure  of  the  gift.  Inspira- 
tion was  never  responsible  for  all  the  judgments  and 
acts  of  a  prophet. 

Elihu  assumes  that  Job  was  self  righteous  and  was 
for  that  reason  suffering  all  these  judgments.  He  mis- 
construes his  indignant  but  gallant  and  successful  de- 
fense against  the  aspirations  of  his  three  friends,  as  if 
he  had  claimed  absolute  holiness  before  God.  It  was 
true  then  as  it  is  now  and  was  in  Ezekiel's  day  and  in 
Christ's  day  that  self  righteousness  has  no  real  stand- 
ing before  God  or  man.  We  may  not  here  undertake 
to  analyze  Elihu's  masterly  presentation  of  other 
phases  of  the  same  general  truths  discussed  by  the 
others,  but  with  varied  illustrations  and  applications. 
Chapters  xxxiii  to  xxxvii. 

XVI.  Job  made  no  reply.  Why?  It  requires  no 
stretch  of  the  imagination  to  see  the  old  man  as  he  sits 
there  in  the  ashes,  and  presses  and  scrapes  his  boils  with 
a  broken  piece  of  pottery.  How  he  turns  his  bleared 
and  swollen  eyes  upon  the  young  man  with  mingled 
astonishment,  scorn  and  pity,  and  utters  never  a  word. 
And  how  could  he  reply  to  the  charge  of  self  righteous- 
ness, trusting  in  his  own  righteousness?     Assevera- 


r6o  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

tions  would  not  meet  the  case.  He  could  not  lay  bare 
his  heart  before  them  more  fully  than  he  had  done. 

Who  shall  decide  the  issue  raised  by  these  four 
men?  Satan  had  failed  to  make  good  his  prediction 
that  under  certain  conditions  Job  would  curse  God  to 
his  face.  He  had  varied  and  intensified  the  conditions, 
and  yet  Job  had  not  "sinned  with  his  mouth  nor 
charged  God  foolishly." 

But  who  shall  vindicate  Job  against  Satan's  further 
aspersions  through  these  four  men?  The  Lord  who 
had  stood  behind  his  servant  with  grace  sufficient  for 
his  day  in  this  unequal  struggle  came  to  his  rescue. 

The  Lord  challenged  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind.  In 
chapters  38  to  41  he  recounts  his  supreme  power  in 
creation  and  his  prdvidential  control  of  the  whole  phy- 
sical universe — the  starry  heavens,  and  the  earth  by 
sea  and  land.  His  easy  handling  of  the  great  monsters 
of  the  deep,  and  the  wild  animals  on  the  land  is  re- 
counted in  full  detail  to  symbolize  his  dealings  in  the 
moral  universe.  Twice  he  challenges  Job  out  of  the 
whirlwind  to  tell  his  real  attitude  toward  him.  And 
twice  Job  in  that  awful  presence,  repudiated  self 
righteousness,  and  stood  a  repentant  sinner — the  exact 
attitude  of  every  righteous  man  from  Abel  to  the  end 
of  time.     xl.  2-5 ;  xlii.  1-6. 

XVH.  Then  the  Lord  vindicated  Job.  xlii.  7-9. 
We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  details.  Then  the  Lord 
prospered  him  double  and  gave  him  again  seven  sons 
and  three  daughters  and  added  140  years  to  his  life. 

Conclusion. — We  may  now  inquire  modestly,  what 
is  the  object  and  scope  of  the  book.  It  is  plainly  the 
vindication  of  a  man  named  Job  against  the  slanderer 
— Satan,  the  accuser  of  the  saints.  His  righteousness 
was  vindicated  in  heaven  before  the  sons  of  God  and 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  i6i 

on  earth  before  men.  We  may  argue  that  it  is  a 
typical  case  setting  forth  the  vindication  of  the  right- 
eous of  all  ages  against  the  accuser  and  it  is  recorded 
for  our  encouragement. 

Incidentally,  however,  the  lessons  of  the  book  are 
very  numerous.  There  is  hardly  a  head  of  divinity,  or 
a  theological  dogma,  or  a  rule  of  life  that  is  not  stated, 
argued  and  expanded  into  its  widest  scope  and  applica- 
tion in  this  wondrous  book. 

We  sometimes  hear  the  question  asked,  Why  is 
there  so  little  actual  doctrine  in  the  earlier  books  of  the 
Bible.  Some  even  tell  us  that  the  Old  Testament 
saints  had  a  very  formal  and  materialistic  religion  and 
knew  but  little  even  of  God  himself.  To  such  we  say, 
go  and  read  the  book  of  Job.  No  inspired  writer  has 
gone  bevond  it. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

ECCLESIASTES   OR  THE   ROYAL  TEACHING   PREACHER. 

We  will  not  at  this  time  pause  to  discuss  the  questions 
of  the  authorship  and  design  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes. 
We  are  willing  to  accept  the  traditional  view,  and  attri- 
bute it  to  the  great  name  with  which  it  has  usually  and 
for  many  ages  been  associated.  Adopting  this  view,  we 
may  well  say  that  Ecclesiastes  is  a  most  remarkable  book, 
written  by  a  most  remarkable  man,  in  a  most  remarkable 
age,  among  a  most  remarkable  people.  David  had 
founded  a  great  kingdom  on  the  western  Mediterranean 
with  his  capital  at  Jerusalem,  extending  from  the  Euph- 
rates to  Egypt.  Syria  and  Edom  and  Arabia  yielded  him 
uncounted  tribute.  The  Phoenicians  were  his  commercial 
allies.  The  commerce  of  Persia  and  Africa  and  India 
passed  across  his  kingdom,  and  the  caravan  trade  of  all 
Central  Asia  poured  its  riches  into  the  lap  of  Judah  and 
Israel.  Egypt,  and  Babylon,  and  the  Hittites,  the  three 
powers  of  the  East  which  held  the  balance  of  power  and 
disputed  with  each  other  the  empire  of  the  world  for  a 
tliousand  years,  were  in  eclipse  for  a  season,  beaten  small 
by  internal  dissensions  and  external  foes.  David's  king- 
dom stood  forth  among  the  nations  as  the  only  great  and 
glorious  kingdom  on  earth  for  eighty  years.  He  and  his 
people  saw  universal  empire  in  easy  grasp,  and  he  num- 
bered the  people  and  mobilized  the  entire  military 
strength  of  his  kingdom  to  this  end.  But  his  hand  was 
stayed  and  his  plans  were  blasted  by  the  plague  from  the 
Lord. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  163 

He  had  a  mission  of  conquest,  but  not  with  the  sword. 
He  had  a  promise  of  universal  empire  for  himself  and 
his  seed,  and  the  time  seemed  opportune. 

Solomon  came  to  the  throne  with  the  arts  of  peace. 
It  was  necessary  to  consolidate  the  kingdom  with  com- 
merce and  culture,  with  learning  and  religion.  His  mis- 
sion was  to  consecrate  the  civilization  of  his  day.  It 
was  no  mean  civilization.  There  is  no  place  for  fashion- 
able hypotheses  of  barbaric  and  semi-barbaric  codes  and 
customs  in  that  day.  Agnosticism  itself  now  begins  to 
concede  the  substantial  truth  of  the  world-wide  tradi- 
tion of  a  golden  age  in  the  earlier  times.  The  deeper 
the  archaeologist  explores  into  those  old  civilizations,  the 
more  profound  is  his  astonishment  at  the  records.  At 
Jerusalem  gold  and  silver  were  multiplied  as  the  stones 
in  the  streets.  Art  and  architecture,  tapestry  and  needle- 
work, stonecutting  and  metallurgy,  tillage  and  vine-dress- 
ing reached  the  very  climax  of  excellence. 

That  people  had  a  mission — a  God-given  mission — 
first  proclaimed  to  Abraham  ten  centuries  before,  'T  will 
l^less  them  that  bless  thee  and  curse  them  that  curse  thee : 
and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

The  kingdom  was  unique,  with  Jehovah,  the  Second 
Person  of  the  Trinity,  as  the  civil  head  of  the  common- 
wealth, himself  appointed  to  be  universal  king. 
The  time  seemed  opportune  to  bless  all  nations  of  the 
earth  and  to  prepare  the  nations  for  the  coming  of 
David's  son,  in  whom  the  covenant  should  be  completely 
fulfilled.  Only  a  viceroy  was  needed  with  the  requisite 
endowments. 

Plato's  ideal  commonwealth  was  now,  if  ever,  to  be 
realized.  Mentor's  ideal  kingdom,  so  beautifully  un- 
folded to  Telemachus,  his  royal  pupil,  seemed  about  to 


164  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

have  a  realization,  of  which  Mentor  nor  Appollo  ever 
dreamed. 

Solomon  was  raised  up  and  equipped  with  wisdom — 
wisdom  to  rule,  an  "understanding  heart  to  judge  the 
people,"  to  "discern  between  good  and  evil."  And  be- 
cause he  chose  this,  the  Lord  said,  "I  have  given  thee  a 
wise  and  understanding  heart ;  so  that  there  was  none  like 
thee  before  thee,  neither  shall  any  arise  after  thee 
like  unto  thee.  And  I  have  also  given  thee  that  which 
thou  hast  not  asked,  both  riches  and  honor ;  so  that  there 
shall  not  be  any  among  the  kings  like  unto  thee  all  thy 
days." 

His  wisdom  was  all-embracing  for  acquisition  ot 
knowledge,  and  equally  effective  for  imparting  the  same 
to  admiring  pupils.  All  forms  of  learning  and  wisdom 
and  knowledge  met  in  him.  He  was  a  poet,  for  his  songs 
were  a  thousand  and  five ;  he  was  a  philosopher,  for  he 
spake  three  thousand  proverbs ;  he  was  a  preacher,  and 
the  pulpits  of  all  ages  discuss  his  themes;  he  was  a 
scientist,  comprehending  the  whole  range  of  natural 
history;  a  botanist  and  a  dendrologist,  for  "he  spake  of 
trees,  from  the  cedar  that  is  in  Lebanon  even  to  the  hys- 
sop that  springeth  out  of  the  wall" ;  he  was  a  zoologist 
and  an  ornithologist,  and  entomologist  and  an  ichthy- 
ologist, for  "he  spake  also  of  beasts,  and  of  fowl,  and 
of  creeping  things,  and  of  fishes ;"  and,  withal,  he  was  a 
teacher,  for  he  "spake"  of  all  these  things,  "and  there 
came  of  all  peoples  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon, 
from  all  kings  of  the  earth  which  had  heard  of  his  wis- 
dom." 

Nor  did  he  stand  alone,  for  there  was  wisdom  in  the 
"children  of  the  east  country"  and  in  "Egypt."  He  had 
peers,  though  not  his  proper  equals,  in  "Ethan  the  Ezra- 
hite,  and  Heman,  and  Chalchol,  and  Darda,  the  sons  of 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  165 

Mahol."  Could  we  find  such  a  man  to-day,  and  plant  him 
at  one  of  our  great  centres  of  commerce,  or  education, 
we  would  have  a  great  university,  to  which  learned  pro- 
fessors and  eager  pupils  alike  would  flock,  and  wealth 
would  pour  unstinted  offerings  at  her  feet;  so  there, 
kings  and  queens  were  his  pupils.  The  queen  of  Sheba, 
herself  the  wisest  among  women,  "came  to  prove  him 
with  hard  questions,"  and  "she  communed  with  him  of 
all  that  was  in  her  heart,"  and  "Solomon  told  her  all  her 
questions ;  there  was  not  anything  hid  from  the  king 
which  he  told  her  not ;"  and  her  voluntary  tuition  ofifer- 
ing  was  "an  hundred  and  twenty  talents  of  gold,  and  of 
spices  very  great  store,  and  precious  stones." 

Yet  his  kingdom  failed.  Alas,  alas !  Solomon  was 
but  a  man ;  his  head  reeled  and  turned  in  the  very  zenith 
of  his  glory ;  he  grew  dizzy  in  those  heights ;  wealth  and 
luxury  did  their  corrupting  work  for  himself  and  his  peo- 
ple. His  very  wisdom  became  a  snare,  and  both  his  wis- 
dom and  his  power  were  prostituted  to  ignoble  aims. 
Lust  and  sin  marred  his  work  and  cut  oflf  his  opportunity. 

We  have  not  the  heart  to  unfold  the  story  of  his  poly- 
gamy, idolatry,  covetousness,  and  oppression,  fitly  ending 
in  the  decay  of  his  kingdom  and  the  secession  of  ten 
tribes  to  Jeroboam,  and  the  centuries  of  decay  and  curs- 
ing, of  which  he  himself  sowed  the  seeds  amid  regal 
splendor. 

The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  recounts  his  experiences  of 
life.  He  drank  at  every  fountain  of  mere  human  good. 
He  tells  the  story  fairly;  he  tells  the  story  honestly;  he 
tells  it  sadly,  almost  bitterly.  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  you 
read  in  the  opening;  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  as  the  story 
progresses;  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  "all  is  vanity,"  is  the 
echoing  wail  at  the  close. 

He  exhausted  every  category  in  search  of  the  sum- 


i66  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

mum  bonum — the  supreme  good,  the  chief  end  of  man. 
Let  us  trace  some  of  his  experiments. 

1.  He  sought  it  in  ivisdom  and  knozvlcdge.  (i.  16-18.) 
"I  communed  with  mine  own  heart,  saying,  Lo,  I  am 
come  to  great  estate,  and  have  gotten  more  wisdom  than 
all  they  that  have  been  before  me  in  Jerusalem ;  yea,  my 
heart  had  great  experience  of  wisdom  and  knowledge. 
And  I  gave  my  heart  to  know  wisdom  and  to  know  mad- 
ness and  folly;  I  perceived  that  this  also  is  vexation  of 
spirit.  For  in  much  wisdom  is  much  grief ;  and  he  that 
increaseth  knowledge  incrcaseth  sorrow." 

2.  He  sought  it  in  riches  and  in  the  pleasures  tvhich 
they  afford,  (ii.  4-11.)  "I  made  me  great  works;  I 
builded  me  houses ;  I  planted  me  vineyards ;  I  made  me 
gardens  and  orchards,  and  I  planted  trees  in  them  of  all 
kinds  of  fruits.  I  made  me  pools  of  water,  to  water  there- 
with the  wood  that  bringcth  forth  trees ;  I  got  me  ser- 
vants and  maidens,  and  had  servants  born  in  my  house; 
also  I  had  possession  of  great  and  small  cattle  above  all 
that  were  in  Jerusalem  before  me ;  I  gathered  me  also 
silver  and  gold,  and  the  peculiar  treasure  of  kings  and 
the  provinces ;  I  got  me  men-singers  and  women-singers, 
and  the  delights  of  the  sons  of  men,  as  musical  instru- 
ments, and  that  of  all  sorts.  And  whatsoever  mine  eyes 
desired  I  kept  not  from  them ;  I  withheld  not  my  heart 
from  any  joy.  And  behold,  all  was  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit,  and  there  was  no  profit  under  the  sun." 

3.  He  then  sought  refuge  in  a  materialistic  and 
epicurean  philosophy.  He  unified  man  and  beast  into 
one  category,  (iii.  19-22.)  "That  which  befalleth  the 
sons  of  men  befalleth  beasts;  even  one  thing  befalleth 
them:  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dicth  the  other;  yea.  they 
have  one  breath ;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  preeminence 
above  a  beast :  for  all  is  vanity."    "All  go  unto  one  place ; 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  167 

all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust  again."  "Who 
knoweth  the  spirit  of  a  man,  whether  it  goeth  upward, 
and  the  spirit  of  a  beast,  whether  it  goeth  downward  to 
the  earth?"  "Wherefore  I  perceive  that  there  is  noth- 
ing better,  than  that  a  man  should  rejoice  in  his  own 
works ;  for  that  is  his  portion :  for  who  shall  bring  him  to 
see  what  shall  be  after  him?"  "Then  I  communed  with 
mirth,  because  a  man  hath  no  better  thing  under  the  sun 
than  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  to  be  merry."  So  said 
the  rich  fool  in  the  parable,  so  said  they  in  Isaiah's  day, 
and  so  in  Corinth,  and  so  to-day,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die." 

4.  He  also  stumbled  at  the  inequalities  of  Providence 
in  this  life.  (vii.  15.)  "All  things  have  I  seen  in  the 
days  of  my  vanity :  there  is  a  just  man  that  perisheth  in 
his  righteousness,  and  there  is  a  wicked  man  that  pro- 
longeth  his  life  in  his  wickedness."  Also  (viii.  14), 
"There  is  vanity  which  is  done  on  the  earth;  that  there 
be  just  men  unto  whom  it  happeneth  according  to  the 
work  of  the  wicked;  again,  there  be  wicked  men,  to 
whom  it  happeneth  according  to  the  work  of  the 
righteous:  I  said  this  also  is  vanity."  And  out  of  it  all 
he  argued  a  shallow  expediency  and  a  colorless  medio- 
crity. "Be  not  righteous  overmuch ;  neither  make  thyself 
overwise;  why  shouldest  thou  destroy  thyself?  Be  not 
overmuch  wicked,  neither  be  thou  foolish ;  why  shouldest 
thou  die  before  thy  time?" 

5.  He  tried  fatalism  and  skepticism,  the  unfailing 
refuge  of  the  sensualist,  (ix.  11,  12.)  "I  returned  and 
saw  under  the  sun  that  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor 
the  battle  to  the  strong,  neither  yet  bread  to  the  wise, 
nor  yet  riches  to  men  of  understanding,  nor  yet  favor 
to  men  of  skill ;  but  time  and  chance  happeneth  to  them 
all.     For  man  also  knoweth  not  his  time;  as  the  fishes 


i68  Selected  Oed  Testament  Studies 

that  are  taken  in  an  evil  net,  and  as  the  birds  that  are 
caught  in  the  snare ;  so  are  the  sons  of  men  snared  in  an 
evil  time,  when  it  fallcth  suddenly  upon  them." 

"All  things  come  alike  to  all ;  there  is  one  event  to 
the  righteous  and  to  the  wicked."  "A  living  dog  is  better 
than  a  dead  lion."  "The  dead  know  not  anything,  neither 
have  they  any  more  a  reward;  for  the  memory  of  them 
is  forgotten.  Also  their  love,  and  their  hatred,  and  their 
envy  are  now  perished."  "There  is  no  work,  nor  device, 
nor  wisdom,  nor  knowledge,  in  the  grave  whither  thou 
goest." 

Oh !  the  blank  despair  offered  alike  by  fatalism  and 
skepticism.  Your  soul  cannot  rest  in  it;  no  more  could 
his.  Such  a  creed  is  worse  than  vanity.  The  soul  re- 
coils from  its  hopeless  blank  of  nothingness.  A  certain 
annihilation  were  a  sweet  refuge  compared  to  it. 

6.  Therefore,  forsaking  all  these,  he  sought  the  chief 
good  in  official  and  professional  activity,  (xii.  9,  10.) 
"Moreover,  because  the  preacher  was  wise,  he  still 
taught  the  people  knowledge ;  he  sought  out  and  set  in 
order  many  proverbs,  he  gave  good  heed."  Yea !  "the 
preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words ;  and  that 
which  was  written  was  upright,  even  words  of  truth." 
How  he  magnifies  his  office  as  teacher,  preacher  and  au- 
thor! "The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,  and  as  nails 
fastened  by  the  masters  of  assemblies,  which  are  given 
from  one  shepherd." 

But  alas,  this,  the  highest  of  all  callings,  is  not  man's 
chief  good.  Oh !  how  pathetic  is  his  lament,  as  he  adds, 
"And  further,  my  son,  by  these  be  admonished ;  of  mak- 
ing many  books  there  is  no  end ;  and  much  study  is  a 
weariness  of  the  flesh."  What  does  he  mean?  Does  he 
disparage  his  wisdom,  and  his  authorship,  and  his  teach- 
ing?    Does  he  discourage  academic  and  scientific  learn- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  169 

ing,  or  put  any  slight  upon  the  honors  which  scholastic 
ambition  craves  and  wins?  We  think  not.  These  things 
are  not  the  chief  good — the  sum  of  all  one's  endeavor 
and  the  goal  of  all  one's  ambition. 

The  royal  teacher  of  Israel  has  one  more  lesson,  and 
that  is  but  the  conclusion  of  all  the  rest.  The  whole  of 
his  argument  culminates  in  this,  and  the  trend  of  his 
logic  is  to  exclude  all  else  but  this.  He  differentiates 
all  else  but  this.  "Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter,  Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments, 
for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man."  Or,  as  the  Revised 
Version  has  it,  "This  is  the  end  of  the  matter ;  all  hath 
been  heard,"  etc.  He  states  it  in  proverbial  and  aphoristic 
form,  the  condensed  experience  of  a  life-time  of  obser- 
vation and  experiment,  carrying  with  it  all  the  self-evi- 
dencing power  of  an  axiom;  and  he  hurls  it  at  his  class 
with  all  the  power  and  precision  with  which  his  father 
David  handled  his  weapons  of  war.  'Tis  the  last  lesson. 
'Tis  also  the  first  lesson;  (Prov.  i.  7),  "The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  begining  of  wisdom."  Proverbs  ix.  10 
reiterates  the  same.  Psalm  cxi.  10,  "A  good  understand- 
ing have  all  they  that  keep  his  commandments."  This  is 
the  "whole  of  man."  You  talk  of  manliness ,  why,  'tis 
godliness.  The  restoration  of  God's  image  is  true  man- 
hood. All  else  but  this  is  folly,  mere  emptiness  and 
vanity,  a  "sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

Was  not  this  your  first  lesson  at  your  mother's  knee, 
when  she  taught  you  to  fold  your  hands  in  prayer?  the 
first  lesson  in  the  catechism?  "Man's  chief  end  is  to 
glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever."  'Tis  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Christian  educator,  and  the  very  genius  of  the 
Christian  school.  Literature,  science,  and  philosophy 
have  their  place,  not  supreme,  but  ancillary  to  true  wis- 
dom.     Education   should  be   the   handmaid   of   religfion. 


170  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

l^nsanctified  secular  learning  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 
Daily  prayers,  Sunday  Bible  classes  and  church  attend- 
ance, throughout  childhood,  youth  and  academic  life 
find  their  explanation  here.  Even  secular  associations, 
colleges  and  universities  dare  not  neglect  them  wholly. 
The  study  of  the  Bible,  which  is  rapidly  becoming  a  uni- 
versal text-book,  seeks  to  unify  all  sound  learning,  and 
is  but  the  emphasizing  of  this  lesson.  What  other 
nucleus  will  one  find  about  which  all  his  heart  and  life 
may  crystallize? 

But,  why  such  a  failure  as  Solomon,  the  wise  man 
so  unwise?  Was  he  a  failure?  Was  Job  a  failure  as 
he  sat  in  the  ashes,  stripped  and  speechless?  God  has 
given  notable  solutions  of  the  great  problems  of  the  ages. 
Job  in  the  ashes  vindicated  the  righteous  against  the 
slanderer  for  all  time.  Solomon  also :  "Who  will  show 
us  any  good?"  is  the  despairing  cry  of  the  ages.  He 
exhausted  the  problem.  He  only,  of  all  men,  ever  had 
the  opportunity,  and  we  may  accept  his  testimony.  This 
testimony  is  ample  for  all  times  and  conditions.  Call  you 
a  hundred  witnesses,  each  a  preeminent  votary  of  his 
own  cherished  pursuit,  and  what  can  they  add  to  this 
testimony?  "Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments." 
This  is  personal  religion,  active  service,  heart  service. 
Here  meet  faith  and  obedience.  The  preacher  does  not 
argue  its  importance.     Nor  will  we. 

He  fastens  and  clinches  the  nail  with  one  word,  judg- 
ment. "For  God  shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment, 
with  every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether 
it  be  evil."  (xi.  9.)  "Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy 
youth,  and  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy 
youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  thine  heart  and  in  the 
sight  of  thine  eyes ;  but  know  thou  that  for  all  these 
things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment."       The  judg- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  171 

ment  is  the  supreme  test  of  all  things — the  day  of  doom. 
Then  let  us  settle  every  question  in  the  light  of  the  judg- 
ment— every  question  of  pleasure,  of  ambition,  of  calling, 
of  duty,  and  of  service.  Nor  dare  we  forget  that  in  the 
judgment  "we  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus 
Christ  the  righteous." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
Daniel  and  His  Times 

OR 

The  Significance  of  the  Captivity. 

There  were  two  captivities,  one  of  Israel  and  one  of 
Judah,  culminating  in  the  overthrow  of  both  King- 
doms and  the  deportation  of  the  people.  There  were 
three  stages  in  the  captivity  of  each  Kingdom.  The 
prophets  foretold  the  disasters  to  both  the  kingdoms 
as  the  just  and  righteous  punishment  for  the  sins  of  the 
people ;  and  they  preached  repentance  all  the  while,  and 
promised  deliverance  if  they  would  turn  and  keep 
God's  covenant. 

The  history  of  their  disasters  in  battle,  of  the  seige 
and  conquest  of  their  cities,  of  the  desolation  of  their 
land,  of  the  butcheries  of  the  people,  and  of  the  whole- 
sale deportations  is  so  briefly  told  by  the  sacred  histo- 
rians that  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  horrors  of  the 
situation. 

These  events  viewed  from  a  civil  and  national  point 
of  view  were  certainly  dark  in  the  extreme.  Israel 
ceased  to  be  a  people  in  the  sense  that  they  were  never 
restored  to  the  land  as  a  civil  commonwealth.  There 
was  a  promise  of  restoration  to  the  kingdom  of  Judah 
after  seventy  years,  and  but  few  could  live  to  see  it. 
The  patriot's  outlook  was  well  nigh  hopeless,  and  the 
lamentations  of  Jeremiah  are  amply  justified  by  the 
conditions  around  him. 

It  has  been  common  to  look  only  on  the  dark  side 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  173 

with  its  horrors,  and  to  suppose  that  the  seventy  years 
of  captivity  was  but  the  term  and  duration  of  the  pun- 
ishment, and  that  these  punishments  cured  the  Jewish 
people  of  their  idolatries  and  their  apostasies,  and  that 
they  were  restored  when  they  were  cured  and  because 
thy  were  cured. 

We  wish  to  inquire  whether  this  view  exhausts  all 
the  facts  or  gives  complete  and  satisfactory  interpreta- 
tion of  them. 

Several  questions  would  seem  to  emerge  here,  such 
as  these.  Why  did  the  Kingdom  of  Israel  fail  so  much 
sooner  than  that  of  Judah?  Why  were  the  people  of  Is- 
rael never  restored?  Why  were  alliances  with  Assyria 
and  Egypt  so  disastrous?  Why  did  the  prophets 
promise  safety  in  submission  and  allegiance  to  Baby- 
lon? What  was  the  status  of  the  Jewish  people  during 
the  captivity,  civilly,  socially,  and  religiously?  Why 
did  so  small  a  proportion  of  the  people  actually  return 
to  Palestine?  What  was  the  influence  of  the  Jewish 
people  upon  those  among  whom  they  lived?  What 
was  the  logical  and  actual  status  of  the  Jews  of  the  dis- 
persion from  the  time  of  Cyrus  on  down  to  the  time  of 
Christ?  What  was  the  secret,  power,  and  centre  of 
their  religious  life  during  the  captivity,  and  then 
throughout  the  dispersion?  Were  they  cured  of  idol- 
atry by  punishment?  Were  the  idolaters  cured  at  all? 
Were  they  not  exterminated?  What  was  the  wider 
providential  significance  of  the  captivity  and  the  dis- 
persion? 

These  and  other  interesting  questions  are  suggested 
by  the  facts.  We  cannot  hope  to  answer  them  all  in 
this  brief  discussion.  Some  of  them  will  be  considered 
in  other  discussions.  Still  we  hope  to  answer  some  of 
them,  and  to  throw  light  upon  others,  and  perhaps  find 
the  kev  to  them  all. 


174  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

We  need  to  study  Scripture  history  just  as  we  study 
any  other  history  in  order  to  ascertain  and  trace  all  the 
causes  and  forces  that  operate  to  make  history.  Sa- 
cred history,  however,  has  these  advantages  over  secu- 
lar history,  an  infallible  record  of  the  facts,  an  infallible 
interpretation  of  the  facts  in  many  cases,  and  a  trust- 
worthy revelation  of  God  himself  as  the  providential 
ruler  of  nations,  people  and  individuals.  In  secular 
history,  he  sustains  the  same  relations  to  human 
affairs,  but  he  does  not  so  distinctly  reveal  himself. 

In  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  God,  in  the  person  of 
Jehovah,  the  son,  was  both  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
head.  There  were  two  coterminous  commonwealths, 
one  civil,  the  other  religious  or  more  properly  eccle- 
siastical. Both  these  were  complete  in  their  organiza- 
tion, franchises  and  equipment.  This  is  commonly 
called  union  of  church  and  state.  Perhaps  a  better 
definition  would  be  equilibrium  of  church  and  state. 
All  other  theocratic  unions  of  church  and  state,  of 
which  history  is  full,  are  but  bungling  imitations  of  the 
Hebrew  commonwealth. 

Now,  history  shows  that  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
forces  have  played  a  prominent  part  in  making 
history.  This  is  the  more  obvious  where  there  is  any 
form  of  union  of  church  and  state.  The  so-called  po- 
litical parties  are  politico-religious  parties,  and  the  re- 
ligious and  ecclesiastical  forces  are  often  the  most 
potent.  We  need  only  cite  the  European  struggles 
that  grew  out  of  the  reformation,  or  the  Crusades  of 
earlier  centuries,  or  the  struggles  of  the  Scotch  Cove- 
nanters in  more  recent  times.  Such  forces  are  by  no 
means  quiescent  to-day. 

We  would  expect  to  find  similar  alignments  of  par. 
ties  in  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel — politico-re- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  175 

ligious  parties.  And  we  actually  find  such  parties  in 
both  kingdoms  growing  in  strength  and  power  till  they 
dominate  the  state  and  lead  to  gigantic  and  sometimes 
heroic  struggles  for  supremacy.  In  a  republic  the  mu- 
tation of  parties  is  often  sudden  and  rapid,  and  we 
would  expect  to  find  it  so  in  the  Hebrew  republic. 

After  the  death  of  Solomon  the  kingdom  was  di- 
vided on  the  purely  political  issues  of  retrenchment 
and  reform.  But  Jeroboam  in  Israel  and  his  counsel- 
lors judge  it  necessary  to  modify  the  eccleciastical  and 
ritual  system  in  the  interest  of  politics.  This  modified 
religious  system  was  still  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
though  seriously  corrupt  and  Israel  did  not  then  cast 
off  the  Theocracy  and  become  apostate. 

This  modification  became  the  policy  of  the  kingdom 
as  against  the  conservatism  of  the  best  elements  of  his 
people,  including  resident  priests  and  Levites?  This 
conservative  element  largely  forsook  his  kingdom 
weakening  its  moral  power  and  strengthening  the 
rival  kingdom.  This  one  thing  largely  accounts  for 
the  more  rapid  apostasy  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  and 
for  the  longer  lease  of  life  to  Judah. 

However,  we  can  but  recognize  a  strictly  orthodox 
party  in  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  We  recognize  Elijah 
and  Elisha  as  leaders  of  this  party  in  the  days  of  the 
house  of  Omri.  Rehoboam  in  Judah  imitated  Solomon 
his  father  in  patronizing  the  false  and  idolatrous  reli- 
gions of  other  nations,  and  his  liberal  policy  of  tolera- 
tion postponed  political  antagonisms  a  little  season. 

But  the  worship  of  Jehovah  and  the  worship  of 
Baal  and  other  idolatries  were  sworn  enemies  and 
could  not  long  tolerate  each  other.  Two  politico-reli- 
gious parties  were  rapidly  formed  and  developed — the 
conservative  party  we  call  the  orthodox  party  because 


176  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

they  worshipped  the  Lord  and  kept  his  covenant — the 
idolatrous  party  we  call  the  apostate  party  for  obvious 
reasons. 

The  apostate  party  grew  rapidly  under  royal 
patronage,  but  the  invasion  of  Shishak,  king  of  Egypt 
gave  them  a  great  blow,  and  gave  the  orthodox  party 
a  prestige  and  vigor  which  kept  them  in  power  for 
sixty-six  years  during  the  reigns  of  Asa  and  Jehosha- 
phat. 

In  the  meantime  the  moral  power  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  grew  weaker  and  she  became  the  easy  prey  of 
several  military  revolutions  and  usurpations  all  follow- 
ing the  traditional  policy  of  Jeroboam,  son  of  Nebat. 
When  Ahab  came  to  the  throne  he  and  his  wife  Jeze- 
bel developed  the  idolatries  of  the  heathen  in  their 
most  odious  forms  of  lust,  persecutions,  and  murders, 
and  all  would  have  been  lost  but  for  the  prophets 
Elijah  and  Elisha. 

Jezebel  seems  to  have  sought  to  exterminate  the 
orthodox  party  rather  than  the  corrupt  state  worship 
of  Jeroboam  the  son  of  Neba,  for  she  slew  four  hun- 
dred prophets  of  the  Lord,  the  rest  were  hidden  away 
from  her  wrath.  The  orthodox  party  was  the  strictly 
patriotic  party  in  the  earlier  struggles  with  Syria. 

In  Judah  the  marriage  of  Joram,  son  of  Jehoshaphat, 
to  Jezebel's  daughter  enables  the  Apostate  party  to  se- 
cure their  first  real  lease  of  power  for  fourteen  years 
until  the  regency  of  Jehoiada  reinstated  the  orthodox 
party  in  power.  It  is  not  necessary  to  our  purpose  to 
pursue  the  history  further  in  illustration,  except  to  no- 
tice that  Israel  fell  more  and  more  rapidly  under  the  in- 
competent control  of  the  Apostate  party  and  the  end 
came  quickly.  In  Judah  the  struggle  was  much  more 
prolonged. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  177 

This  theory  of  the  mutations  of  parties  accounts  for 
the  apparent  contradictions  in  the  history,  and  explains 
why  the  administration  of  one  king  should  be  typically 
so  good  and  the  next  so  bad.  In  the  case  of  two  kings, 
at  least,  Joash  and  Manasseh,  the  mutation  of  parties 
took  place  in  the  midst  of  their  reigns.  The  case  of 
Manasseh  calls  for  special  comment.  He  was  the  son 
of  good  king  Hezekiah,  but  the  first  twenty-two  years 
of  his  reign  were  the  worst  Judah  had  ever  had.  He 
was  carried  prisoner  to  Babylon  with  his  prime  minis- 
ter Shebna,  the  Scribe.  He  repented  and  was  restored 
to  his  kingdom  with  the  orthodox  party  in  power  and 
Eliakim  was  his  chief  counsellor,  while  Shebna  re- 
mained in  prison  in  Babylon. 

Another  point  needs  emphasis  and  elucidation. 
Palestine  was  becoming  more  and  more  the  high- 
way of  nations,  and  its  possession,  or  its  absolute 
independence  and  neutrality  became  more  and  more 
important  to  the  powers  around  them. 

These  great  powers  had  their  distinctive  religious 
characteristics.  The  Assyrians  and  their  dependencies 
seem  to  have  been  Sabians  who  first  worshipped  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars — the  hosts  of  heaven.  They  had 
now  become  idolaters  and  were  the  most  pronounced 
polytheists.  Babylon  and  her  Eastern  dependencies 
were  largely  monotheistic,  and  the  Magian  religion 
which  finally  prevailed  for  many  centuries  in  Asia  took 
shape  from  Judaism  and  adopted  large  parts  of  the 
Jewish  scriptures  into  their  sacred  books.  It  is  easy 
then  to  see  why  the  political  affiliations  of  the  Apos- 
tate party  were  with  Assyria  and  afterwards  with 
Egypt ;  and  also  why  the  Orthodox  party  affiliated 
with  Babylon  more  readily. 

These  affiliations  were  not  so  obvious  before  the 


178  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

time  of  Ahaz  because  all  parties  before  this  time  were 
too  patriotic  to  seek  foreign  alliances,  or,  at  least,  to  rely 
upon  them. 

We  need  also  to  notice  that  the  orthodox  party 
stood  true  to  their  treaties  and  their  oaths  of  alle- 
giance ;  this  was  a  part  of  their  religion.  We  find  in 
this  the  main  reason  why  the  orthodox  Jew  was  trust- 
ed, and  favored,  and  petted  under  all  the  empires  and 
kingdoms  for  centuries,  beginning  with  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, as  will  be  noted  later  on. 

But  the  apostate  party  was  ready  to  violate  oaths 
and  treaties  on  every  plausible  occasion.  Perjury  and 
treachery  were  their  highest  diplomacy,  and  their  doom 
became  a  political  necessity  after  their  reformation  be- 
came hopeless. 

In  the  great  struggle  between  Assyria  and  Egypt 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  violated  oaths  and  treaties  and 
fell  away  to  alliance  with  Egypt  and  was  conquered  by 
the  Assyrians  again  and  again,  and  the  removal  of  the 
remnants  became  a  political  necessity  under  Tiglath 
Pileser,  Shalmenezer,  and  Esarhaddon.  At  this  period 
Judah  under  good  king  Hezekiah  stood  for  independ- 
ence against  Assyria  on  the  one  hand  and  Egypt  on  the 
other. 

A  little  later  Assyria  was  conquered  and  absorbed, 
by  the  Babylonian  Empire.  The  Hittites  had  been 
eliminated  from  the  balance  of  power,  and  Babylon  and 
Egypt  began  their  struggle  for  universal  empire. 
Palestine  became  the  outpost  and  granary  for  one  or 
the  other.  The  apostate  party  favored  Egypt  while 
the  orthodox  party  favored  Babylon.  The  sympathiz- 
ers with  Egypt  were  dominant,  and  even  the  prophets 
of  the  Lord  were  suspected  and  charged  with  treason. 
Twice  the  armies  of  Nebuchadnezzar  beat  back  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  179 

armies  of  Egypt,  conquered  the  apostate  government 
at  Jerusalem  and  put  them  under  oaths,  treaties,  and 
tribute.  At  this  time  the  best  of  the  people  were  de- 
ported to  Babylon  and  among  them  were  Daniel  and 
his  three  friends.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  these 
captives  were  the  noncombatant  orthodox,  who  would 
not  violate  oaths  and  treaties,  the  very  bone  and  sinew 
of  the  people.  Jehoiachin,  the  apostate  king,  was 
shown  on  favors,  but  lay  in  prison  thirty-seven  years 
in  Babylon. 

And  they  rebelled  yet  again  under  Zedekiah.  His 
sons  were  slain  before  his  eyes,  and  his  eyes  were  put 
out  and  he  languished  in  a  Babylonish  dungeon  till  he 
died.  The  city  and  the  temple  were  levelled  with  the 
ground  and  all  the  yeomanry,  the  more  intelligent  and 
self  reliant,  were  carried  away.  A  remnant  of  the 
lower  classes  was  left  to  cultivate  the  soil,  and  save 
the  land  from  universal  desolation. 

But  this  remnant  went  to  Egypt  against  the  protest 
of  Jeremiah  and  expressly  repudiated  all  allegiance  to 
Jehovah.  Apostasy  had  so  penetrated  to  the  very  low- 
est stratum  of  the  people. 

What  was  the  significance  of  all  this?  The  apos- 
tate party  was  practically  exterminated  in  the  succes- 
sive struggles  and  the  final  overthrow.  The  remnant 
that  fled  into  Egypt  was  put  to  the  sword  when  Nebu- 
chadnezzar conquered  Egypt.  The  apostate  false 
prophets  that  rose  up  in  Babylon  to  foment  discontent 
and  mischief  were  executed  by  order  of  the  king. 

On  the  other  hand  the  captive  populations  were  set- 
tled in  the  fertile  plains,  and  in  the  populous  cities  of 
Babylon,  a  petted  and  not  a  persecuted  people.  King 
Nebuchadnezzar  instituted  a  policy  that  prevailed  in 
successive  kingdoms  for  centuries. 


i8o  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

To  whom,  under  God,  may  all  this  be  traced?  The 
evident  answer  is,  To  Daniel  and  his  three  young 
friends.  They  were  no  mere  accident  or  incident  in 
this  great  drama.  He  was  rapidly  exalted  to  be  the 
head  of  the  aristocracy  of  Babylon  and  was  evidently 
chief  counsellor,  and  prime  minister  to  the  king,  from 
Nebuchadnezzar  to  Darius  the  Mede  and  Cyrus  the 
Great:  and  his  three  friends  seem  to  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  highest  offices  of  the  govern- 
ment. There  is  no  need  to  vindicate  his  loyalty  to  his 
people  as  well  as  to  their  God.  For  seventy  years  he 
stood  next  to  the  throne,  the  friend,  the  counsellor,  the 
guide,  and  the  prophet  of  his  people.  When  full  ninety 
years  old  he  counselled  with  Cyrus  and  planned  the 
restoration  of  the  people  to  Zion  and  the  rebuilding  of 
the  temple.  The  generous  decree  of  Cyrus  and  the 
generous  provision  to  carry  it  out  were  but  the  culmi- 
nation of  seventy  years  of  prosperity  and  blessing. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Daniel  and  his  three 
friends  did  aught  to  set  free  Jehoiachin  and  Hezekiah, 
the  apostate  and  perjured  kings,  nor  save  the  apostate 
false  prophets.  Idolatry  and  false  prophecy  were  capi- 
tal crimes  under  Hebrew  law  and  Babylon  became  the 
executioner  from  the  very  exigencies  of  the  case. 

The  historic  parallel  to  all  this  is  found  in  the  strug- 
gle between  the  Plebean  and  Senatorial  parties  in  the 
Roman  commonwealth,  in  which  the  hopelessly  cor- 
rupt senatorial  party  was  practically  exterminated,  and 
Rome  took  a  new  lease  on  life.  So  here  also,  when 
the  apostate  party  was  exterminated  Judaism  took  a 
new  lease  on  life. 

There  was  still  much  of  idolatry  among  the  hetero- 
geneous peoples  of  the  Babylonish  empire,  but  the  pre- 
vailing Monotheism  was  a  bond  of  sympathy  for  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  i8i 

further  protection  of  the  Jewish  people,  and  they  took 
such  deep  root  in  the  lands  of  their  captivity  that  per- 
haps not  more  than  one  fiftieth  of  the  people  returned 
to  Palestine.  The  rich  and  the  powerful,  however, 
gave  large  contributions  to  forward  the  rebuilding  of 
the  city  and  the  temple. 

Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were  the  prophets  of  the  cap- 
tivity and  during  the  suspension  of  the  temple  ritual 
the  synagogue  was  developed  as  the  centa'e  of  their  re- 
ligious life  and  power,  as  we  have  shown  in  another  dis- 
cussion on  the  synagogue. 

It  is  interesting  also  to  trace  the  influence  of  ortho- 
dox Judaism  in  moulding  and  improving  the  Magian 
system  which  soon  prevailed  in  all  the  East.  This  also 
has  been  considered  in  a  separate  discussion.  It  is  de- 
sirable here  to  trace  in  brief  the  condition  of  the  Jews 
of  the  dispersion  for  several  centuries.  The  policy  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  Cyrus  became  traditional  in  the 
East.  It  was  adopted  by  Alexander  the  Great  who  put 
the  Jews  into  the  same  rank  with  the  Macedonians  in 
his  empire.  The  same  policy  was  pursued  in  the  four 
kingdoms  that  grew  out  of  his  empire  with  two  or 
three  notable  exceptions. 

The  disasters  that  overtook  Haman's  conspiracy 
against  them  contributed  greatly  to  their  prosperity 
and  exaltation.  Antiochus  Epiphanes  in  Syria  perse- 
cuted the  Jews  and  the  Maccabean  wars  ground  him  to 
powder.  Ptolemy  Physcon  in  Egypt  sought  to  re- 
verse the  policy  and  even  to  exterminate  the  Jews  of 
his  kingdom,  and  he  too  was  taught  the  meaning  of  the 
words  spoken  to  Abraham,  "Him  that  curseth  thee  I 
will  curse." 

The  Jews  of  the  dispersion  were  the  missionaries  to 
the  nations  to  prepare  the  world  for  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
Biblical  Criticism. 

In  the  broad  sense  of  the  word  every  man  who  reads 
is  a  critic.  It  is  entirely  natural  for  him  to  approve  or 
condemn,  to  receive  or  reject,  to  admire  or  dislike.  We 
instinctively  pass  judgment  on  what  we  read  in  books. 
In  this  broad  sense  criticism  is  almost  a  fine  art  in 
Literature.  It  is  a  proper  exercise  of  the  intelligence 
to  discern  things  that  differ,  to  winnow  the  chaff  from 
the  wheat,  to  point  out  beauties  and  excellencies  in 
matter  and  style  and  to  censure  whatever  does  not  ap- 
proximate an  ideal  standard. 

Such  volumes  as  Campbell's  Rhetoric  and  Kames' 
Elements  of  Criticism  and  Ruskin's  discussions  set 
forth  the  rules  to  guide  us  to  right  conclusions  when 
we  study  history,  poetry,  oratory,  or  philosophic 
treatises.  This  sort  of  criticism  finds  its  highest  ideals 
in  the  literary  study  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  terms  critic  and  criticism  when  thus  employed 
suggest  no  bad  sense  and  no  unwholesome  mental  atti- 
tude. Still  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  personal  element 
in  the  critic  too  often  determines  his  critical  conclu- 
sions and  mars  the  character  of  his  work.  Just  here  the 
critic  becomes  odious  and  his  conclusions  mischievous. 
Prejudice  and  hostility  interfere  sadly  with  the  value  of 
his  work.  Aristotle  tells  us  that  prejudice,  passion  and 
sloth  are  the  three  great  enemies  of  a  philosophic 
spirit,  i.  e.  a  right  attitude  to  discern  truth. 

However,  we  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  critic  in 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  183 

this  broad  sense  as  he  deals  with  literature  and  the  fine 
arts.  The  British  Essayists  are  the  finest  examples  of 
such  critics.  There  is  a  much  narrower  usage  of  the 
term  critic  and  criticism  limiting  them  to  the  field  of 
the  Scriptures.  Here  also  we  may  expect  to  find  good 
and  bad,  legitimate  and  illegitimate.  Critical  processes 
are  so  numerous  and  varied  that  it  is  not  easy  to  name 
and  classify  them  all. 

Untold  work  has  been  done  and  untold  volumes 
have  been  written  that  might  properly  be  called  Bibli- 
cal Criticism.  This  is  the  topic  of  this  chapter,  a  sub- 
ject of  vast  proportions.  We  can  only  hope  to  em- 
phasize and  illustrate  some  clear  cut  definitions,  and  to 
distinguish  the  species  and  varieties  of  Biblical  criti- 
cism. 

I.  Exegesis. — This  is  a  critical  process  by  which  we 
seek  to  discover  the  exact  meaning  and  usage  of  words, 
phrases,  and  sentences,  either  in  the  original  languages 
of  the  Scriptures  or  in  an  approved  translation.  It 
deals  with  the  literal  and  figurative  use  of  words  and 
phrases  and  their  limitations  by  the  context  or  by  pre- 
scriptive usage.  Translation  is  largely  based  upon  it, 
but  does  not  constitute  it.  It  seeks  to  find  out  the 
exact  meaning  of  the  writer  and  to  ascertain  the 
minute  inosculations  of  his  thought,  and  to  express  the 
same  in  other  forms  of  speech.  Dififerences  of  doc- 
trine are  born  in  different  exegetical  conclusions.  Exe- 
gesis is  the  battle  ground  of  theologians.  We  empha- 
size the  fact  that  it  is  limited  by  the  laws  of  language. 
Grammatical  laws  and  the  laws  of  expression  are  as 
inexorable  and  imperious  as  the  laws  of  the  physical 
universe.  A  false  exegesis  undermines  all  truth,  even 
when  the  exegete  holds  to  the  staunchest  doctrine  of 
inspiration. 


184  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

2.  Hermeneutics. — Some  writers  include  exegesis 
as  a  part  of  Hermeneutics,  But  others  make  exegesis 
furnish  the  materials  with  which  it  deals.  The  distinc- 
tion, however,  is  not  vital,  and  it  matters  little  for  our 
purpose  if  exegesis  and  Hermeneutics  do  overlap  each 
other. 

This  critical  process  deals  with  certain  general 
principles  of  interpretation  rather  logical  than  gram- 
matical. It  takes  a  wider  view  of  Scripture  than  an 
examination  of  terms,  phrases,  sentences,  and  para- 
graphs. It  deals  with  the  trend  of  Scripture  and  the 
proportion  of  faith.  Traditional  Hermeneutics  starts 
with  the  fundamental  proposition  that  all  Scripture  is 
unified  by  inspiration.  Its  product  is  the  Commentary 
which  tests  Scripture  with  Scripture  and  furnishes  the 
materials  for  systematic  theology.  It  is  not  our  pur- 
pose here  to  analyze  and  set  up  the  various  subsidiary 
principles  of  this  process,  but  simply  to  indicate  its 
significance.  We  need  only  to  say  that  if  we  start 
with  a  sound  exegesis  and  apply  sound  hermeneutical 
principles  we  must  needs  ascertain  the  truth  as  taught 
by  inspiration.  If  on  the  other  hand  either  or  both  of 
these  be  at  fault  the  Bible  is  just  to  that  extent  mis- 
leading and  false,  because  misunderstood. 

We  are  often  asked  why  there  are  so  many  variant 
creeds  and  so  many  schools  of  theology,  all  claiming  the 
authority  of  the  "only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice." The  answer  is  easy ;  they  originate  in  a  false 
exegesis,  and  false  principles  of  interpretation.  Social 
and  political  beliefs  and  practices  vary  widely  from 
each  other  for  the  same  or  kindred  reasons.  Precon- 
ceptions, prejudice,  pride,  and  perversity  turn  mind  and 
heart  from  the  truth,  just  as  the  hidden  loadstone  turns 
the  needle  from  the  pole. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  185 

3.  The  Lower  Criticism. — There  is  no  need  here  to 
justify  the  term  "lower"  as  applied  to  this  department 
of  Biblical  Criticism.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  mere  mat- 
ter of  convention  or  agreement  among  scholars  so  to 
distinguish  it.  Its  processes  are  limited  to  ascertain 
the  exact  text  of  Scripture.  The  original  autograph  of 
no  single  book  of  the  Bible  has  yet  been  discovered. 
The  written  oracles  of  God  were  committed  to  the 
Jews  to  keep  and  transmit  to  succeeding  generations. 
The  New  Testament  was  committed  to  the  early 
church  to  transmit  along  with  the  other,  for  Christians 
became  joint  custodians  with  the  Jews  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. The  Scriptures  were  handed  down  the  ages 
by  human  hands.  They  were  copied  and  translated. 
The  copies  and  the  translations  were  made,  similarly 
to  those  found  in  all  transmitted  human  literatures,  but 
more  carefully,  owing  to  the  loyalty  of  the  scribes  who 
copied  the  Scriptures. 

The  lower  criticism  has  collated  manuscripts  and 
manuscript  translations,  and  quotations  and  commen- 
taries of  the  earlier  Fathers,  and  by  comparison  it  has 
sought  to  restore  as  nearly  as  possible  the  exact  origi- 
nal autographs  of  the  New  Testament  books.  This 
has  been  approximated.  The  number  of  variations  dis- 
covered is  immense.  Untold  labor  and  scholarship 
have  been  expended  on  this  work  for  one  hundred  years 
past.  It  has  been  amply  demonstrated  that  no  impor- 
tant fact  and  no  doctrine  of  scripture  has  been  put  in 
jeopardy  by  these  variations.  It  is  conceded  that  we 
have  substantially  the  originals  of  the  New  Testament 
books. 

Similar  work  still  needs  to  be  finished  for  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament.  This  work  is  more  difficult, 
and  perhaps  less  necessary  because  the  Jewish  doctors, 


i86  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

or  the  Masorites,  after  a  certain  period  in  the  history, 
bestowed  unmeasured  and  even  fabulous  labor  and  care 
in  the  transmission  of  the  present  Hebrew  text  and 
there  is  but  little  material  available,  antedating  the 
work  of  the  Masorites. 

Many  prefer  the  name  "Textual  Criticism,"  because 
it  deals  only  with  the  text  of  Scripture  and  seeks  to 
correct  mistakes  in  transcription  and  to  restore  as  far 
as  possible  the  original  text.  However,  we  prefer  to 
retain  the  name  Lower  Criticism  in  contrast  with  the 
"Higher." 

4.  The  Higher  Criticism. — This  name  has  been 
brought  into  disrepute  by  the  arrogant  claims  of  some 
of  the  critics  as  we  shall  see.  There  as  a  relative  dig- 
nity and  importance  among  studies  and  intellectual 
processes  and  there  is  no  objection  to  expressing  that 
relative  dignity  by  a  name.  The  names  Lower  and 
Higher  may  have  been  adopted  for  that  purpose. 

After  the  text  has  been  ascertained  and  established 
by  the  processes  of  the  Lower  Criticism,  the  Higher 
Criticism  approaches  the  text  in  a  critical  wa3^  It 
seeks  to  ascertain  the  sources,  dates,  authorship,  and 
claims  of  the  sacred  books.  It  examines  the  style, 
complexion,  use  of  words,  literary  character  and  con- 
struction with  a  view  of  ascertaining,  confirming  or 
settling  all  such  matters  and  such  other  questions  as 
might  arise. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  this  criticism  that  part 
company  with  each  other  because  of  the  dififerent  genius 
and  spirit  of  their  work  and  because  of  their  dififerent 
attitude  toward  the  Scriptures  themselves.  We  call 
them  constructive  and  destructive  criticism. 

I.  Constructive  Criticism. — The  constructive  critic 
starts  with  certain  convictions  concerning  the  Scrip- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  187 

tures.  He  is  loyal  to  all  its  claims.  He  believes  it  to 
be  the  word  of  God — "the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice,  teaching  us  what  we  are  to  believe  con- 
cerning God,  and  what  duty  God  requires  of  man."  He 
holds  to  the  traditional  doctrine  of  plenary  inspiration. 
He  deals  with  the  internal  evidences  of  the  genuine- 
ness and  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures.  His  own 
faith  has  already  been  settled  before  he  undertakes  to 
be  a  defender  of  the  faith.  Prejudice  and  partisanship 
have  no  place  in  his  work.  His  own  faith,  however,  is 
fortified  more  and  more  as  his  work  progresses.  This 
principle  is  true  in  all  pursuit  and  defense  of  truth, 
secular  or  sacred. 

Paley's  Horae  Paulinae  is  a  striking  example  of  con- 
structive criticism.  He  gathers  up  all  the  facts  of 
Paul's  life  and  work  as  found  in  the  book  of  Acts,  and 
all  references  to  his  work  and  associations  to  be  found 
in  his  epistles,  many  of  which  are  hardly  discoverable 
by  the  ordinary  reader.  He  groups  them  all  together 
so  skillfully  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to  gainsay 
any  of  his  arguments  for  the  genuineness  and  authen- 
ticity of  the  book  of  Acts  and  the  Pauline  Epistles. 
The  previous  chapter  on  the  books  of  Genesis  and  the 
chapter  on  the  other  four  books  of  Moses  would  be 
classified  as  constructive  criticism  because  of  their 
point  of  view  and  because  the  author  aims  so  to  pre- 
sent the  contents  of  those  books  as  to  justify  their 
place  in  the  sacred  canon  and  also  to  vindicate  the 
Mosaic  authorship  of  them  all  as  a  unit.  And  besides, 
the  author  seeks  to  verify  these  claims  by  reference  to 
the  later  Scriptures  and  also  to  show  that  the  later 
scriptures  in  turn  are  justified  and  fortified  by  their 
coherency  with  the  books  of  Moses.  Whether  the 
author's  argument  is  satisfactory  or  not  it  is  to  be  clas- 
sified as  constructive  criticism. 


i88  Selected  Old  Testament  Stt-dies 

2.  Destructive  Criticism. — This  name  was  g-iven 
because  it  is  the  exact  opposite  of  constructive  criti- 
cism. Its  aims  and  results  are  the  exact  opposite,  but 
none  plead  guilty  to  "destructive  critic."  The  two 
are  rival  schools  of  Biblical  criticism.  This  school 
charges  the  other  with  traditionalism,  dogmatism, 
creed  worship,  and  a  superstitious  worship  of  a 
fetish  called  the  canon.  They  also  charge  narrow, 
illiberal  views  and  a  lack  of  charity  for  those  who 
differ,  all  based  on  a  lack  of  sound  scholarship  and 
aggravated  by  prejudice. 

Per  contra. — They  claim  for  themselves  broad  and 
liberal  scholarship,  untrammeled  by  preconceptions, 
superstitions  and  creeds.  They  have  abounding  charity 
for  everything  except  old  fashioned  orthodoxy  which  is 
their  pet  abomination.  They  make  loud  claims  of 
scientific  methods  and  processes ;  and  you  would  sup- 
pose that  they  had  invented  inductive  processes  or  had 
applied  them  for  the  first  time  to  Biblical  criticism. 

The  name  "destructive"  will  be  amply  justified  by 
a  citation  of  their  aims  and  purposes  and  their  well  de- 
fined attitude  towards  the  Scriptures  and  towards  the 
creeds  of  all  evangelical  churches. 

They  all  claim  to  be  devout  and  independent  think- 
ers with  no  recognition  of  authority,  each  one  being 
himself  an  expert.  Any  recital  of  the  processes  and 
conclusions  of  this  school  would  be  accepted  by  none 
in  its  entirety  because  this  science  like  other  sciences  's 
in  a  constant  state  of  flux  or  transition  to  a  higher  and 
more  logical  form.  The  inductions  of  to-day  may  be 
greatly  broadened  and  enlarged  to-morrow.  For  this 
reason  you  may  not  quote  one  of  this  school  of  critics 
against  another,  no  matter  how  contradictory  and  va- 
riant they  may  be.  We  may  sketch  this  school,  its  at- 
titudes, its  works,  and  its  results  in  several  particulars. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  189 

1.  They  glory  in  the  name  "higher  criticism."  They 
claim  higher  scholarship,  higher  views,  higher  aims, 
and  higher  and  nobler  results  than  the  representatives 
of  old  fashioned  Bible  study.  This  is  accomplished  by 
depreciating  and  destroying  their  conservative  rivals 
rather  than  by  building  up  substanital  structures  of 
their  own. 

2.  They  reduce  the  Scriptures  to  the  level  of  the 
literatures  of  other  nations  and  peoples  and  they  call 
them  a  literature  to  be  studied  exactly  as  any  other 
literature  and  they  maintain  that  the  law  of  its  growth 
was  the  same  as  in  any  other  people. 

3.  They  find  the  Bible  to  be  a  naturalistic  product, 
the  outgrowth  of  the  conditions,  environment,  and  exe- 
gencies  of  successive  generations.  They  make  it  the 
product  of  a  growing  and  expanding  civilization  rather 
than  a  God-given  vital  force  in  molding  that  civiliza- 
tion. 

4.  An  evolutionary  philosophy  finds  man's  low 
origin,  barely  distinguishable  from  his  brute  ancestors, 
and  seeks  to  trace  his  slow  and  painful  struggle  up- 
ward throughout  the  ages.  His  mental  and  moral 
powers  and  his  religion  also  were  slowly  unfolded  and 
coordinated.  They  adopt  this  philosophy  though  few 
of  them  are  scientific  evolutionists.  They  talk  about 
the  infancy  of  the  race  passing  in  its  growth  through 
savage,  barbarous,  and  semi-barbarous  conditions. 
They  make  the  Scriptures  the  product  of  a  semi-bar- 
barous people  and  they  judge  them  accordingly. 

5.  They  remand  the  supernatural  to  the  supersti- 
tious fancies  of  an  ignorant  people.  They  minimize 
the  miracle  even  though  they  may  not  reject  it  entirely. 
The  Scriptures  make  miracles  the  prophet's  testimo- 
nials.    No  miracle  no  prophet;  no  prophet  no  miracle; 


iQO  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

therefore  no  inspiration.  The  higher  critic,  the  agnos- 
tic, the  sceptic,  the  atheist  are  practically  agreed  in 
their  attack  upon  miracles.  Why?  Inspiration  is  the 
real  citadel  to  be  taken  and  destroyed.  The  miracles 
of  the  Bible  are  the  outer  defenses.  Batter  them  down 
or  betray  them  into  the  enemy's  hands  and  the  citadel, 
falls  an  easy  prey. 

6.  But  the  higher  criticism  does  not  reject  inspira- 
tion. It  cannot  so  stultify  itself.  It  rejects  plenary 
inspiration  and  considers  verbal  inspiration  an  absur- 
dity. It  refuses  to  call  the  Bible  the  Word  of  God,  but 
says  that  it  contains  the  Word  of  God.  It  denies  the 
inerrancy  of  the  original  autographs.  These  several 
things  mentioned  so  far,  justify  the  title  "destructive 
critic"  though  we  have  used  his  own  preferred  title 
"higher  critic."  We  pause  just  here  to  assure  the 
reader  that  the  true  higher  criticism  is  the  work  of  the 
constructive  critic  and  in  no  proper  sense  belongs  to 
the  destructive  critic. 

7.  The  destructive  critic  denies  revelation  as  a  con- 
scious communication  to  the  prophet — a  message  from 
a  person  to  a  person.  He  teaches  that  only  the  spirit- 
ual is  inerrant,  and  that  somehow  it  sprang  out  of  the 
exalted  spiritual  consciousness  of  the  prophet  and  that 
such  truth  is  its  own  sufficient  witness  to  the  reader  or 
hearer.  Accordingly  all  else  is  on  the  level  of  other 
writings  and  subject  to  the  same  critical  tests. 

8.  It  is  consistent  therefore  when  many  of  these 
critics  deny  the  possibility  of  predictive  prophecy  and 
say  that  the  prophet  is  limited  by  his  own  horizon  and 
that  his  prophecies  are  merely  forecasts  of  the  future 
based  on  conditions  in  sight  and  elaborated  with  the 
mspiration  of  genius.  Some  concede  in  addition  a  sort 
of  divine  efflatus.  But  the  whole  is  the  subjective  pro- 
duct of  the  prophet's  inner  consciousness. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  191 

9.  They  tell  us  also  that  this  form  of  inspiration 
was  not  limited  to  the  prophets  of  scripture  but  has 
been  manifested  in  all  ages  by  the  great  leaders  in  hu- 
man thought  and  action,  who  tower  above  their  fel- 
lows. Such  men  have  challenged  the  admiration  and 
loyalty  of  the  generations  in  which  they  have  lived. 
Thus  Moses,  and  Solon,  and  Aristotle,  and  Mahomet, 
and  Luther  are  placed  in  the  same  category.  They  tell 
us  further  that  one  source  of  truth  to-day  is  the  con- 
census of  Christian  consciousness  and  that  this  mode  of 
revelation  is  progressive  from  generation  to  generation. 
Nothing  can  be  more  alien  than  this  to  the  orthodox 
view  of  inspiration. 

10.  They  hold  that  all  creeds  and  church  formu- 
laries of  the  past  are  mere  inductions  modified  by  the 
environment  and  the  subjective  processes  of  those  who 
made  them.  That  they  were  valuable  in  their  day  and 
time,  that  they  are  no  longer  suited,  to  the  advancing 
conditions  of  the  present  day,  that  their  inductions 
need  to  be  reopened  and  that  the  superior  scholarship 
and  general  intelligence  of  the  present  day  demand 
something  better. 

11.  This  school  of  critics  professes  to  test  Scripture 
by  Scripture,  on  the  comparative  method,  by  science, 
by  history,  and  by  archaic  research.  For  example. 
They  construe  variant  statements  in  the  scriptures  into 
contradictions,  and  exaggerate  minor  errors  that  have 
crept  in  by  transcription,  and  thereby  discredit  the  his- 
torical reliability  of  the  Bible.  They  quote  science 
against  Bible  teachings ;  they  find  that  Christ  and  his 
disciples  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  devils,  but  modern 
science  discredits  their  superstitions.  They  discred- 
ited the  book  of  Daniel  because  we  were  not  able  to 
locate  Belshazzar  and  Darius  in  profane  history.    They 


192  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

told  us  that  the  writer  of  Exodus  knew  nothing  of  Egypt 
because  he  speaks  of  the  making  of  brick  there  by  the 
Hebrews.  We  are  not  trying  now  to  answer  them,  but 
only  defining  and  illustrating  their  methods.  Perhaps 
their  most  popular  fallacy  is  "argumentum  ab  ignoran- 
tia." 

12.  They  charge  compilations,  anachronisms,  and 
pious  frauds  and  forgeries.  They  tell  us  that  all  the 
earlier  books  of  the  Bible  are  made  up  of  several  stories 
spliced  together  by  different  redactors  or  editors  as  the 
centuries  passed,  leaving  very  little  if  any  to  Moses  as  the 
author.  They  rely  on  a  certain  critical  sense,  born  of 
a  profound  scholarship,  to  analyze  and  dissect  the 
books  of  Moses,  and  later  books  also,  and  assign  to  a 
half  dozen  authors  and  editors  the  words,  clauses,  and 
paragraphs  belonging  to  each.  The  result  is  a  Poly- 
chrome Bible,  printed  in  several  colors.  According  to 
this  theory  we  have  a  piece  of  patchwork  in  which  the 
seams  and  joinings  are  as  discernable  as  in  a  ladies' 
quilt,  all  discerned  by  a  critical  sense.  They  tell  us 
that  the  Fifty-first  Psalm  was  written  many  centuries 
later  than  David  and  that  its  spirituality  would  have 
been  an  anachronism  in  his  day.  They  tell  us  that  the 
Levitical  and  Deuteronomic  codes  were  not  only  of 
late  origin  but  that  they  were  palmed  off  with  pious  in- 
tent upon  an  ignorant  and  credulous  people — pious 
frauds  and  forgeries,  of  which  we  have  so  many  ex- 
amples in  the  middle  and  dark  ages. 

13.  They  trace  Scripture  statements  to  legendary 
sources,  to  local  color,  and  to  the  prejudices  and  igno- 
rance of  the  times.  All  nations  have  their  legendary 
stories  reaching  back  into  the  dim  and  remote  past  and 
incorporated  into  their  histories.  Hebrew  authors 
borrowed  these  legends  and  dressed  them  up  in  the 
semblance  of  authentic  history. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  193 

Then  again  it  sounds  plausible  to  say  that  in  im- 
parting spiritual  truth  there  was  no  need  to  correct  the 
false  and  inadequate  views  of  the  writers  in  matters 
non-spiritual ;  therefore  we  need  not  expect  to  find 
their  writings  reliable  on  all  matters  that  are  not 
spiritual. 

The  Tubingen  school  of  critics  eliminated  almost^ 
all  the  Scriptures,  endorsing  the  residue  as  divine 
truth ;  but  they  were  not  able  to  draw  the  line  for  the 
seeker  after  truth. 

14.  The  latest  phase  is  the  Kuenen-Wellshausen 
theory  of  the  post-exilic  origin  of  nearly  all  the  Penta- 
teuch.    This  theory  has  already  been  alluded  to  above. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  scholarship  has  been  met  with 
scholarship,  science  with  science,  and  archaic  research 
is  confirming  Scripture  in  a  remarkable  and  surprising 
way. 

If  the  arguments  of  the  last  two  chapters  are  sound 
we  may  cite  them  here  in  general  refutation  of  the  de- 
structive criticism.  The  history  of  Jewish  institutions 
is  meaningless  without  Pentateuchal  legislation  and  the 
Bible  were  a  headless  trunk  without  the  book  of 
Genesis. 

We  may  quote  in  support  of  the  Mosaic  authorship 
of  the  five  books  that  pass  under  his  name  John  v.  46, 
Mark  xii.  19,  Acts  xv.  21,  2  Chron.  xxiii.  18.  Ezra  vi. 
18.  However,  the  general  trend,  the  articulation,  the 
unity,  the  necessary  logical  coherency,  and  the  organic 
life  of  the  whole  make  the  argument  overwhelming  and 
conclusive. 

We  admire  the  beauty  and  strength  of  the  arch  be- 
cause each  stone  fits  in  its  place  adjusted  to  all  the  rest. 
So  with  the  books  of  Scripture.  The  Mosaic  pattern 
is  beautiful  in  design,  coloring  and  execution  because 
of  its  unity  and  harmony.     So  likewise  the  Scriptures. 


194  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  offer  a  common  sense  argu- 
ment to  show  that  none  of  these  books  could  have  ori- 
ginated in  pious  frauds  and  forgeries.  The  Scriptures 
at  every  stage  of  their  growth  have  been  the  magna 
charta  of  God's  people  and  have  been  watched,  guard- 
ed, and  transmitted  with  supreme  fidelity.  This  was 
especially  the  case  after  the  captivity,  for  three  great 
sects  were  born  of  the  politico-religious  conditions. 
The  Pharisees,  Sadducees,  and  Samaritans  contended 
with  each  other  with  intense  rivalry,  and  sometimes 
with  long  civil  wars.  The  Pharisees  held  to  the  entire 
Old  Testament  Canon,  the  Samaritans  rejected  all  but 
the  Pentetauch,  the  Sadducees  long  rejected  the  later, 
prophets.  The  great  question  with  all  was  the  inte- 
grity of  Moses.  The  Pharisees  added  their  traditions 
to  Moses  and  the  other  two  denounced  them  bitterly 
for  so  doing.  This  was  no  ignorant  and  credulous  age. 
The  Jews  were  in  contact  with  all  the  learning  and 
philosophy  of  all  the  world  through  the  dispersion. 
How  could  anybody  then  concoct,  collate,  or  forge 
any  one  or  more  of  these  books  and  persuade  all  three 
of  these  rival  parties  to  accept  his  pious  frauds  in  the 
name  of  Moses?  And  what  is  more,  the  Samaritans 
date  back  to  the  earlier  captivity  of  Israel  and  no  doubt 
held  to  the  Pentateuch  from  their  origin  and  they  took 
their  final  form  in  Nehemiah's  day.  The  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees  took  shape  as  sects  somewhat  later,  but  the 
burning  question  with  them  all  was  the  integrity  of 
Moses  as  if  in  anticipation  of  these  latter  day  critics. 

These  destructive  critics  make  no  secret  of  the  fact 
that  their  conclusions  destroy  both  the  foundations  and 
the  superstructure  of  old-fashioned  orthodoxy.  They 
advocate  a  new  theology  and  another  gospel.  Who 
will  define  it  and  preach  it  with  a  "thus  saith  the 
Lord?" 


CHAPTER  XX 

The  Bible  and  the  Monuments. 

It  has  been  customary  to  divide  history  into  Sacred 
and  Secular.  The  secular  historian  gathers  historical 
facts  as  well  he  may  from  all  accessible  sources,  and 
groups  them  according  to  his  best  judgment.  He 
traces  the  forces  and  causes  that  make  history  and  de- 
rives such  lessons  as  the  trend  of  events  seems  to 
teach.  It  need  hardly  be  proved  that  partiality,  preju- 
dice, insufficient  data,  and  lack  of  logical  acumen  do 
often  mar  and  pervert  both  facts  and  conclusions.  In 
short,  the  secular  historian  has  no  claim  to  infallibility 
in  his  work.  Contemporary  history  is  more  valuable 
for  obvious  and  surface  facts,  and  later  historians  are 
more  to  be  depended  on  for  latent  facts  and  for  conclu- 
sions. But  the  work  of  neither  is  final.  New  discov- 
ery of  facts  and  their  relations  is  in  order  at  any  time, 
whenever  some  diligent  student  of  history  finds  him- 
self able  to  give  some  better  rendering  of  the  past.  In- 
ductions are  never  closed  for  obvious  reasons. 

Sacred  history  is  to  be  dififerentiated  from  secular 
in  this,  it  claims  a  divine  authorship.  Secular  history 
claims  a  mere  human  authorship.  The  distinction  is 
based  on  inspiration,  "Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  If  the  claim  of  di- 
vine authorship  is  just,  then  every  recorded  fact,  every 
application  and  doctrine  based  thereon,  every  lesson 
and  conclusion,  partakes  of  the  Divine  infallibility. 

The  sacred  historian,  no  doubt,  used  the  same  pro- 


196  Selected  Old  Testament  Stl^dies 

cesses  as  the  secular  historian,  education,  study,  re- 
search, eyewitness,  tradition,  records,  written  or  monu- 
mental, inductions,  and  deductions,  just  as  if  he  were 
writing  secular  history  with  this  difference,  inspiration. 
Define  inspiration  as  we  may,  it  implies  divine  guid- 
ance in  the  purposes  and  processes  of  the  sacred  his- 
torian and  even  positive  revelation  of  facts  if  neces- 
sary to  the  divine  purpose.  All  the  lessons  of  the  sa- 
cred historian  have  the  Divine  imprimatur  upon  them 
and  are  quoted,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  exactly  like  a 
prophetic  message.  Apart  from  this  distinct  difference 
sacred  history  is  a  misnomer. 

The  sacred  historian  is  a  prophet  speaking  for  God, 
and  transmitting  devinely  attested  facts  and  conclu- 
sions. The  secular  historian  includes  and  treats  of 
biography,  social  customs  and  usages,  political  consti- 
tutions, legislation,  dynasties,  the  rise  and  fall  of  na- 
tions and  all  events  that  may  seem  worthy  of  record. 
These  all  are  so  wrought  together  that  they  cannot  be 
analyzed  into  separate  and  independent  histories.  They 
are  all  interdependent  in  the  life  of  peoples  and  they  all 
reinforce  and  corroborate  each  other  so  far  as  true. 
Destroy  the  truthfulness  of  any  considerable  segment 
of  these  and  all  are  put  in  jeopardy.  It  is  not  possible 
to  analyze  the  historian's  record  of  these  things  and  say 
that  so  much  is  history,  and  so  much  is  politics,  or 
sociology,  or  ethics,  or  culture,  or  religion,  for  it  is  all 
history — one  history.  The  history  that  does  not  in- 
clude all  these  things,  either  actually  or  by  implication, 
is  just  so  far  partial,  inadequate,  and  probably  mislead- 
ing. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  Sacred  history.  In  this 
sense  the  entire  Bible  is  a  book  of  history.  During 
some  periods  its  brevity  is  noteworthy,  but  the  details 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  197 

are  accurate,  coherent,  and  germain  to  whatever  goes 
before  or  comes  after.  All  personal  acts  and  activities ; 
all  agencies,  human  or  divine,  angelic  or  satanic ;  all 
forces,  physical  or  spiritual ;  the  origin  and  destinies  of 
the  race  as  set  forth ;  all  recorded  institutions,  their 
origin  and  administration ;  all  ritual  and  civil  codes , 
all  prose,  poetry  or  prophecy ;  all  the  records  of  proph- 
ets, priests,  lawgivers,  judges  and  teachers;  the  entire 
book  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  are  history  in  a  true 
and  proper  sense  whether  authentic  or  not.  It  is  not 
competent  to  divide  it  so  as  to  distinguish  the  histori- 
cal from  other  elements. 

Still  it  has  been  common  to  speak  of  the  mere  his- 
torical as  distinct  from  the  ethical,  moral,  spiritual  and 
doctrinal,  and  the  distinction  has  usually  been  accepted 
without  reflection.  For  a  time  the  critic  contented  him- 
self with  claiming  to  find  inaccuracies  and  mistakes  in 
certain  historical  statements  and  then  loyally  claiming 
to  accept  and  believe  and  glorify  the  doctrinal  and  the 
spiritual.  I 

As  criticism  became  more  licentious  more  and  more 
has  been  rejected  as  untrustworthy,  and  the  modicum 
of  true  doctrine  has  become  smaller  and  smaller.  The 
destructive  criticism  finally  denied  the  historicity  of  a 
large  part  of  the  Scriptures,  remanded  the  supernatu- 
ral, both  inspiration  and  miracle,  to  the  realm  of  super- 
stition. It  has  revised  the  old  theology  into  the  new 
theology,  and  the  old  gospel  into  another  gospel.  In 
this  the  destructive  critic  is  consistent.  The  Bible  is 
either  all  inspired  or  none  is  inspired.  Reduce  part  of 
the  Bible  to  the  level  of  pagan  literature,  and  it  must 
all  come  to  the  same  level. 

The  critic  has  conceded  the  truth  of  Bible  history 
wherever  it  is  confirmed  in  its  statements  by  secular 


198  Selkcted  Old  Testament  Studies 

history.  And  whenever  they  differ  the  truth  of  the 
secular  witness  has  been  accepted  over  the  Bible  state- 
ments. Those  times  which  left  no  secular  history  have 
been  called  prehistoric.  The  argument  is  very  short; 
prehistoric  times  have  no  history,  therefore  Bible  re- 
cords of  those  times  are  not  history.  This  is  logic 
with  a  vengeance. 

Now  it  so  happens  that  secular  history  has  been 
pushed  back  into  the  ages  in  a  most  wonderful  manner 
until  the  line  of  the  prehistoric  has  been  carried  back  to 
the  days  of  Abraham  and  even  earlier  if  we  may  be- 
lieve all  that  is  told  us. 

This  new  and  expansive  secular  history  is  found  in 
the  monuments.  The  general  name  "monuments"  is 
given  to  innumberable  records  of  nations  and  peoples 
cotemporaneous  with  Biblical  records  of  events,  but 
long  since  perished.  The  graves  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tions have  been  partially  opened  and  they  contain  im- 
perishable records  from  which  their  histories  are  writ- 
ten and  the  work  has  only  begun. 

These  records  are  Egyptian,  Babylonian,  Assyrian, 
Armenian,  Phoenician,  Hittite,  Hebraic  and  Arabian, 
in  divers  languages  and  styles  of  writing.  They  are 
inscribed  on  literal  monuments  or  pillars  of  stone,  on 
the  face  of  cliff's,  on  monoliths,  on  temple  and  palace 
walls  and  bas-reliefs,  on  tombs  and  coffins,  on  clay 
tablets  and  cylinders  and  steles,  on  tables  of  stone  and 
on  more  or  less  perishable  papyri.  They  embrace  re- 
cords of  every  conceivable  transaction  and  event,  such 
as  genealogies,  merchantile  bills,  and  receipts,  daily 
offerings  in  their  temples,  battles,  victories,  spoils, 
treaties,  social  life  and  usages,  and  every  sort  of  trans- 
action common  to  a  busy  thrifty  civilization.  Besides, 
there  are  great  libaries  of  books,  original,  and  copied 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  199 

from  the  literatures  of  other  peoples.  These  records 
are  already  so  numerous  that  it  has  been  estimated  that 
it  would  require  three  hundred  years  for  the  present 
force  of  archaeologists  to  decipher  them.  Explora- 
tion in  these  old  store-houses  of  history  is  only  begun. 

While  these  records  do  often  exaggerate  or  sup- 
press the  truth  and  betray  the  grossest  superstitions 
and  immoralities,  there  is  a  great  opportunity  for  the 
constructive  critic  to  elaborate  valuable  histories  out 
of  the  materials  which  they  furnish. 

Archaeology  is  history  in  its  final  analysis  and  is 
not,  as  is  supposed,  a  separate  science.  In  its  earlier 
discoveries  the  higher  critic  adopted  certain  working 
hypotheses,  partly  archaeological  and  partly  philoso- 
phic, which  soon  became  assumptions,  and  by  means  of 
these  assumptions  it  was  easy  to  brush  aside  the  claims 
of  the  Scriptures. 

A  negative  skeptical  philosophy  which  denies  the 
possibility  and  the  credibility  of  miracles  had  prepared 
the  way  for  a  positive  evolutionary  philosophy  which 
finds  in  naturalistic  processes  the  origin  and  growth  of 
all  human  institutions.  The  critic  who  adopted  these 
two  assumptions  found  it  necessary  to  account  for  the 
Scriptures  and  to  interpret  them  in  accordance  there- 
with. I  ^1  iV,  ^ 

It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  combat  these  premises, 
but  only  to  indicate  why  the  critic  minimizes  the  super- 
natural and  denies  the  inerrant  historicity  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. His  logical  instincts  compel  him  to  accept  all 
or  none. 

New  sciences,  so  called,  have  often  been  usurpers 
in  the  realm  of  truth,  and  their  advocates  have  too  often 
given  them  a  jurisdiction  which  does  not  belong  to 
novices  and  parvenues  in  the  fields  of  knowledge,  and 


200  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

they  have  too  often  brought  all  truth,  human  and  divine 
to  the  test  of  their  immature  conclusions.  The  socalled 
science  of  archaeology  was  no  exception.  The  de- 
structive critic  was  not  slow  to  seize  upon  archaeology 
as  the  armory  from  which  to  draw  his  destructive 
weapons.  His  facts  and  assumptions  seemed  to  fit  in 
together  so  plausibly  that  much  literature  has  grown 
out  of  them ;  many  perverts  from  the  truth  have  been 
made ;  and  many  timid  believers  have  been  appalled  at 
the  seeming  victories  over  truth.  But  the  tide  has 
turned  and  the  monuments  are  proving  themselves  to 
be  the  friends  of  old  fashioned  faith  and  the  hand- 
maids of  truth.  This  we  shall  illustrate  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  Bible  and  the  Monuments — (Continued). 

It  was  intimated  in  the  last  chapter  that  archaeology- 
has  failed  the  critics  and  that  the  testimony  of  the 
monuments  shows  the  futility  of  many  of  their  most 
cherished  assumptions.  The  object  of  this  chapter  is 
to  illustrate  this  by  a  few  examples.  Just  when  the 
destructive  critic  supposed  that  he  had  overthrown  the 
reliability  of  Bible  history  and  the  divine  origin  of 
Bible  institutions  the  very  earth  seemed  to  open  and  give 
up  her  long  hidden  treasures  for  the  confirmation  of 
God's  truth,  and  that  too  in  the  very  form  demanded  by 
the  critics,  secular  testimony.  We  may  cite  a  few  ex- 
amples. 

I.  The  critics  have  pronounced  a  large  part  of  Gen- 
esis unhistorical  and  mythical,  and  made  Abraham  a 
ficticious  product  of  Eastern  thought,  and  argued  the 
improbability  if  not  the  impossibility  of  the  invasion  of 
Palestine  and  the  neighboring  regions  by  Cherdolao- 
mer  and  his  confederates  from  central  Asia.  But  the 
spade  has  unearthed  a  tablet  giving  account  of  the  inva- 
sion and  the  great  spoils  and  the  names  of  the  four 
confederated  kings.  And  more  recently  archaeolo- 
gists have  located  three  of  these  kings  and  their  coun- 
tries. Tidal,  king  of  nations  has  not  been  located,  nor 
can  ever  be,  if  "Goim,"  translated  nations,  was  an  ag- 
gregation of  tribes  of  Joktanite  Arabs  who  frequented 
those  regions  for  time  immemorial.     No  record  of  the 


202  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

second  expedition  has  been  found  except  in  Genesis, 
and  for  a  sufficient  reason.  Kings  were  not  forward 
to  record  disasters  in  their  miHtary  campaigns. 

2.  The  mysterious  Melchizedek,  King  of  Salem,  was 
swept  into  the  receptacle  of  exploded  myths  and  con- 
ceits, and  with  it  must  needs  go  that  wonderful  expo- 
sition of  the  priesthood  of  Christ  based  on  the  typical 
priesthood  of  Salem's  king.  Now  the  monuments 
make  no  mention  to  us  of  this  particular  king  but 
among  multitudinous  documents  found  at  Tel-el- 
Amarna  a  number  of  letters  have  been  found  from  a 
priest  and  king  of  Jerusalem,  an  extraordinary  vassal 
and  ally  and  representative  of  Egyptian  authority  who 
claimed  divine  appointment.  He  was  unlike  any  of 
the  Egyptian  governors  in  Canaan  from  whom  numer- 
ous letters  are  found  also.  He  says,  "Neither  my 
father  nor  my  mother  have  exalted  me  to  this  place." 
He  again  ascribes  his  appointment  to  "prophecy"  and 
to  "oracle,"  which  established  me  in  the  house  of  my 
father."     Compare  Heb.  Chap.  vii. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  tradition  of  this  extraor- 
dinary priest  king  was  handed  down  for  four  hundred 
years,  for  the  name  of  the  king  of  Jerusalem  in 
Joshua's  time  was  Adonai-zedek,  which  is  substantially 
the  same  as  Melchizedek.  The  name  remained  though 
the  substance  had  passed  away. 

3.  The  critics  taught  that  the  name  Salem  in  Gen. 
xiv,  and  Jerusalem  in  Josh.  x.  i,  5,  are  anachronisms, 
but  that  the  true  name  was  Jebus  because  it  was  the 
city  of  the  Jebusites ;  and  they  claim  that  the  first 
proper  appearance  of  the  name  Jerusalem  is  in  Judges 
xix.  10,  "Jebus,  which  is  Jerusalem ;"  and  that  this 
clause  was  added  by  a  late  redactor  or  editor,  and  that 
the  names  date  from   David's  conquest  of  that  city. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  203 

Now  the  early  cunieform  inscriptions  always  write 
Uru-Salem — "City  Salem"^ — for  Jerusalem  ;  evidently 
this  is  the  same  name.  The  criticism  loses  its  sting 
and  Jebus  is  a  new  name  adopted  by  the  Jebusites  until 
the  old  name  was  restored. 

4.  The  critics  once  claimed  that  the  origin  of  the 
Sabbath,  as  told  in  Genesis,  was  entirely  mythical  and 
that  the  Sabbath  was  of  much  later  origin.  But  the 
discovery  of  a  tablet  shows  that  the  day  was  observed 
in  Babylonia  at  an  early  period  with  great  minuteness 
of  detail.  It  was  thus  made  plain  that  the  observance 
of  the  seventh  day  Sabbath  was  not  a  naturalistic  out- 
growth of  unfolding  Jewish  institutions. 

The  critic  then  changed  his  tactics  and  showed  that 
this  Sabbath  observance  in  Babylonia  antedated 
Moses,  and  was  therefore  of  Babylonish  origin.  The 
word  "origin"  has  two  senses  and  therein  lies  the  fal- 
lacy. If  it  means  that  the  Hebrews  brought  Sabbath 
observance  from  Babylonia,  there  is  no  objection,  for 
Abraham,  no  doubt  brought  all  their  civilization,  social 
customs,  and  religious  usages  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees. 
But  if  they  mean  that  Babylonia  originated  the  Sab- 
bath as  against  Moses'  account  of  its  divine  origin,  it 
is  a  mere  assumption,  unsupported  by  a  single  fact. 
Two  logical  fallacies  are  found  in  their  reasoning — the 
fallacy  of  paronymous  words,  and  the  fallacy  of  post 
hoc,  propter  hoc. 

5.  The  exact  parallel  to  this  is  the  story  of  the 
flood.  It  had  been  long  recognized  that  the  world  wide 
traditions  of  a  destructive  deluge  are  confirmatory  of 
the  historic  fact  of  the  flood.  The  flood  tablets  of 
Babylonia  do  add  greatly  to  its  certainty  from  secular 
sources.  The  critics  are  guilty  of  the  same  fallacy  in 
tracing  the  origin  of  the  story  as  found  in  Genesis. 


204  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

The  more  conservative,  like  Sayce,  concede  that  the 
monuments  in  this  and  in  other  cases  do  redeem  the 
Scriptures  from  the  reahn  of  the  mythical  and  fanciful 
and  exalt  them  to  the  rank  of  history,  as  creditable  as 
secular  history  of  past  ages,  and  to  be  tested  by  the 
same  rules.  We  may  certainly  be  grateful  for  the  re- 
buke he  gives  to  the  destructive  critics  for  their  un- 
tenable positons,  even  though  it  be  a  small  favor. 

6.  Take  the  case  of  the  Hittites.  The  critics  for- 
merly objected  to  the  prominence  given  to  the  Hittites 
in  Bible  history.  Somehow  the  Hittites  seemed  to 
have  fallen  out  of  secular  history  so  completely  that 
they  pronounced  Bible  history  necessarily  false  be- 
cause these  peoples  are  so  frequently  mentioned.  It  is 
now  known,  however,  that  the  Hittite  confederacy  held 
the  balance  of  power  for  a  thousand  years  between 
Egypt  and  Central  Asia.  Their  northern  capitals  were 
Kadesh  on  the  Orontes,  and  Carchemish  on  the  upper 
Euphrates,  and  their  capital  in  Palestine  was  Hebron 
in  Abraham's  day,  and  they  built  Zoan  in  Egypt  as 
their  most  southern  capital.  Their  discovered  inscrip- 
tions and  literature  bid  fair  to  rival  those  of  Assyria  or 
Egypt.     So  Bible  history  is  again  vindicated. 

7.  The  historicity  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  He- 
brews in  Egypt  has  been  most  vigorously  attacked  by 
the  critics.  But  their  arguments  were  assumptions 
based  on  ignorance.  For  example ;  they  said  that  the 
historian  of  the  oppression  was  ignorant  of  the  most 
obvious  facts  in  Egypt,  and  evidently  had  never  been 
in  Egypt.  The  merest  tyro  in  Egyptology  was  obliged 
to  know  that  brick  and  mortar  were  not  used  in  Egypt, 
but  their  building  material  was  stone,  as  seen  in  their 
pyramids  and  in  the  ruins  of  their  ancient  cities.  Now 
it  turns  out  that  Pithom,  one  of  the  storage  cities  that 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  205 

the  Hebrews  built  for  Pharaoh,  has  been  identified  be- 
yond all  question,  and  the  drifted  sand  has  been  re- 
moved from  much  of  its  ruins.  The  spade  has  revealed 
acres  of  receptacles  for  grain,  all  built  of  heavy  brick 
walls  built  against  each  other  without  windows  or 
doors.  They  were  evidently  filled  from  the  top,  and 
may  or  may  not  have  had  roofs  and  even  buildings 
above.  It  is  more  probable  however,  that  these  bins 
were  left  open  to  the  air  above,  for  the  climate  was  dry 
then  as  now.  It  is  now  known  that  the  Germanic 
tribes  in  Europe  stored  grain  for  their  armies  in  heaps 
in  the  open  air  and  it  was  so  kept  from  year  to  year. 

An  examination  of  these  structures  shows  that  part 
of  the  bins  were  built  of  brick  made  with  straw;  in 
other  places  inferior  grass  and  stubble  were  used;  and 
in  other  places  the  bricks  were  made  entirely  of  mud. 
So  a  mud  brick  has  brained  that  criticism  and  vindica- 
ted the  author  of  Exodus. 

8.  The  critics  for  a  long  time  challenged  the  gen- 
uineness and  authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch  as  the 
work  of  Moses,  because  that  was  a  rude  and  semi  bar- 
baric age,  and  the  art  of  writing,  if  not  wholly  un- 
known, was  inadequate  to  the  production  and  trans- 
mission of  a  permanent  literature  such  as  we  find  in  the 
Pentateuch. 

Tel-El-Amarna  marks  the  ruins  of  a  city  that  was 
long  the  seat  of  government  in  Northern  Egypt.  In 
1887  immense  numbers  of  tablets  were  unearthed  there, 
of  every  description ;  government  archives,  uncounted 
letters,  domestic  and  foreign,  commercial  transa,ctions, 
family  records  and  literature  of  every  kind.  Nearly  all 
were  written  in  the  cunieform  script  and  in  the  Babylo- 
nian language.  It  is  beyond  question  that  this  was 
the  literary  language  of  that  period  between  Joseph 


2o6  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

and  the  Exodus  and  was  read  and  used  and  understood 
throughout  Egypt,  Palestine,  Arabia,  and  Assyria. 

These  Hbraries  elucidate  the  history  of  that  period 
and  make  the  relations  of  nations  and  peoples  so  lumi- 
nous that  we  feel  at  home  amid  the  cities  of  all  these 
countries.  It  is  also  made  evident  that  schools  and 
libraries,  the  art  of  writing  and  reading,  were  as  widely 
spread  as  in  Europe  till  recently.  When  we  consider 
the  great  difificulty  of  mastering  Babylonian  writing 
and  the  language  itself,  and  the  literary  culture  that  is 
so  obvious,  we  are  astonished  beyond  measure. 

The  critic  is  obliged  to  surrender  his  theory  of 
illiteracy  and  lack  of  culture  in  the  centuries  just  pre- 
ceding the  Exodus.  So  far  as  literary  culture  goes  the , 
centuries  between  Abraham  and  Moses  w^re  fully 
equal  to  the  production  of  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  Book 
of  Job,  or  whatever  else  might  claim  its  origin  then  and 
there. 

A  further  result  of  these  literary  discoveries  is  this. 
The  contents  of  this  literature,  so  far  as  deciphered, 
have  cleared  up  many  points  in  early  Oriental  history 
and  have  added  many  incidental  elucidations  and  con- 
firmations of  the  Bible  history  of  those  days.  It  would 
seem  that  the  critic's  vocation  is  gone,  swept  away  by 
these  revelations. 

9.  It  has  long  been  customary  to  connect  sacred  and 
secular  history  as  mutually  confirmatory  in  the  days  of 
Ahab,  of  the  house  of  Omrl.  After  this  date  sacred 
and  secular  history  have  been  considered  authenic. 
The  critics  have  found,  as  they  suppose,  many  flaws  in 
Bible  history  after  this  date  based  partly  on  the  silence 
of  the  monuments  and  on  supposed  contradictions 
originating  in  ignorant  assumptions.  The  controver- 
sies about  Pul,  Tig-lath-Pileser,  Shalmenezer,  Sargon, 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  207 

and  Tartan  have  been  settled  by  new  records  obtained 
from  the  monuments.  Detailed  discussions  of  all  this 
may  be  found  in  numerous  handbooks  treating  of  these 
things.  The  critics  are  constrained  to  admit  the  re- 
markable "parallelisms"  and  "coincidences"  found  in 
the  Scriptures  "confirming  the  monuments."  This  is  a 
reversal  of  the  argument. 

10.  The  Book  of  Daniel  has  been  and  still  is  the 
battle  ground  of  the  destructive  critics.  If  they  can 
discredit  the  historicity  if  that  book  the  inspiration  and 
inerrancy  of  all  the  rest  go  with  it.  This  might  be  true 
from  our  point  of  view  but  not  from  theirs.  We  con- 
sider the  entire  Scriptures  a  unit,  but  they  do  not.  In 
this  we  discover  their  essential  dishonesty.  If  there  is 
no  unity  of  authorship  in  the  entire  Bible,  as  they 
claim ;  and  if  the  Bible  is  an  aggregation  of  books  by 
mere  human  authors,  a  mere  literature  bound  in  one 
volume,  how  can  the  historicity  of  any  one  book  effect 
the  claims  of  the  others?  From  the  orthodox  point  of 
view,  however,  the  repeated  confirmations  from  Gene- 
sis to  Malachi  do  strengthen  the  whole. 

The  conflict  over  the  Book  of  Daniel  has  been  bit- 
ter, if  not  desperate,  because  it  is  the  last  stronghold  of 
the  destructive  critic.  Daniel  is  the  key  to  Jewish  and 
oriental  history  of  that  period.  His  ninety  years  of 
life  and  his  official  relation  to  five  dynasties  make  him 
the  great  historic  figure.  About  him  are  grouped  the 
captivity  of  the  Jews,  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  Babylon- 
ish empire,  and  the  rise  of  the  Medo-Persiam  empire ; 
and  to  him  was  granted  a  prophetic  sweep  of  vision  to 
see  and  record  the  destinies  of  nations  and  peoples  to 
the  end  of  time.  Nebuchadnezzar,  Evil-Merodach, 
Belshazzar,  Labynetus,  the  Queen  Mother,  Cyrus, 
Darius  and  Zerubbabel  were  in  a  proper  sense  his  satel- 


2o8  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

Htes,  revolving  about  him  because  he,  in  his  person 
and  office,  was  the  representative  of  Him  who  has  al- 
ways been  "head  over  all  things"  for  his  people. 

No  wonder  the  Lord  mentioned  Noah,  Daniel,  and 
Job  as  the  three  great  men  of  the  ages,  and  the  three 
most  likely  to  prevail  with  him.  Ezek.  xiv.  14,  Yet 
the  destructive  critic  does  not  hesitate  to  make  Noah  a 
rather  bungling  imitation  of  Xisuthros,  the  flood  hero 
of  the  Babylonian  tablets.  They  pronounce  Job  the 
great  mythical  hero  of  a  great  religious  epic.  They 
consider  Daniel  a  vastly  overrated  Hebrew  exile,  and 
his  historian  a  pious  fraud.  Satan  still  gets  in  his  per- 
fect work  as  a  slanderer  of  the  saints  just  as  he  did  in 
Job's  day. 

There  have  been  three  several  attacks  on  the  book 
of  Daniel.  The  first  was  made  by  Porphyry  in  the 
days  of  Julian  the  apostate.  Porphyry  was  a  pervert 
from  Christianity  to  Paganism,  He  was  a  very 
learned  man,  a  bitter  enemy  of  Christianity  and  a  great 
leader  in  the  reaction  against  Christianity  in  Julian's 
day.  He  wrote  a  most  learned  book  against  its  claims. 
His  book  has  been  lost  and  all  the  several  refutations 
of  it.  In  his  book  was  the  famous  attack  on  the  book  of 
Daniel.  Assuming  the  impossibility  of  inspiration 
and  predictive  prophecy,  he  showed  in  minute  historic 
detail  the  accuracy,  of  the  predictive  sketch  of  the  na- 
tions for  several  centuries,  and  argued  that  it  was  writ- 
ten after  the  so-called  fulfillment,  because  so  accurate. 

The  critics  to-day  adopting  the  same  fundamental 
assumptions  are  compelled  to  find  a  late  date  for  the 
book  or  surrender  all  their  assumptions  touching  in- 
spiration, revelation  and  predictive  prophecy.  They 
have,  however,  been  compelled  to  renounce  Porphyry's 
fallacy  that  the  fulfillment  of  prophecy  is  prima  facie 
evidence  of  fraud. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  209 

The  critics  made  the  second  attack  from  a  Hterary 
point  of  view,  an  old  method  of  theirs,  not  yet  fully  dis- 
credited. They  say  that  the  style,  and  the  use  of 
Greek  words,  such  as  the  names  of  musical  instru- 
ments, and  other  Grecisms  show  that  the  book  was  writ- 
ten after  the  conquest  of  Asia  by  Alexander,  the  Great, 
and  the  introduction  of  Greek  manners  and  civilization 
by  him.  The  reply  is  easy.  The  Tel-El-Amarna 
libraries  show  the  intimate  contact  of  Greeks  (Javan) 
and  Babylonians  for  a  century  before  Moses  and  the 
monuments  show  a  continued  contact  especially  in 
Asia  Minor  and  Asia  Propria  from  that  time  on.  The 
conquests  of  Nebuchadnezzar  and  then  of  Cyrus  em- 
braced all  the  Greeks  of  the  mainland,  the  original  seat 
of  Greek  civilization ;  and  what  is  more,  the  Phoene- 
cians  who  controlled  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world 
carried  Greek  art  everywhere  at  an  early  day.  These 
facts  indicate  that  the  empire  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  then 
of  Cyrus,  was  cosmopolitan,  and  the  Grecisms  of  the 
book  of  Daniel  would  seem  to  be  both  natural  and  neces- 
sary in  Daniel's  day.  Here  we  have  another  argumen- 
tum  ab  ignorantia. 

The  third  point  of  attack  is  the  account  of  the  fall 
of  Nebuchadnezzar's  empire,  the  capture  of  the  city  by 
Cyrus  and  the  establishment  of  the  Medo-Persian  em- 
pire. It  was  objected  that  the  account  of  Belshazzar's 
impious  feast  is  false  because  Asiatic  usage  did  not 
allow  the  presence  of  women  at  their  feasts.  But  we 
learn  from  secular  sources  that  this  usage  was  set  aside 
one  day  every  year  when  the  entire  people  engaged  in 
the  foul  orgies  of  the  worship  of  Thammuz  (Adonis) 
which  were  celebrated  with  universal  drunkenness  and 
prostitution.  We  are  further  told  that  Cyrus  improved 
that  day  to  enter  and  secure  an  unguarded  city. 


210  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

For  fifty  years  the  critics  kept  asking,  "Who  was 
Belshazzar?"  The  historians  and  the  monuments 
make  no  mention  of  him  as  a  son  and  successor  in  the 
dynasty  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  But  on  the  contrary 
secular  history  tells  that  Nabonidus  (Labynetus)  was 
a  usurper,  and  the  last  king  of  Babylon,  and  he  was  not 
in  the  city  when  it  fell.  But  the  city  was  in  charge  of 
the  Queen  Mother  and  the  king  took  charge  of  the  ar- 
mies in  the  field  and  was  shut  up  in  Borsippa  not  far 
away.  How  triumphantly  the  critics  kept  asking  for 
fifty  years,  "who  was  Belshazzar?" 

Almost  any  Sunday-school  child  can  now  tell  you 
that  he  was  the  son  of  Labynetus  by  a  grand-daughter 
of  Nebuchadnezzar  which  made  Belshazzar  his  "son,"' 
It  was  the  custom  of  a  new  king  to  strengthen  his 
kingdom  by  taking  the  wives  and  female  relatives  of  for- 
mer kings  to  wife.  We  now  know  that  Belshazzar  was 
a  weak  and  dissolute  prince  and  that  he  perished  some- 
how ;  Daniel  only  tells  us  how. 

Now  the  critic  keeps  asking,  "who  was  Darius  the 
Mede?"  He  finds  no  answer  either  from  the  monu- 
ments or  from  Greek  historians  who  wrote  of  these 
things  long  after  the  events  they  record.  We  ar? 
obliged  to  answer  that  we  do  not  know  certainly. 
No  harm  can  come  of  the  critic's  ignorance  of  his  per- 
sonality. We  know  this  much  from  secular  traditional 
history.  Astyages  was  king  of  the  Medes  and  Cyax- 
ares  was  his  son.  Also  Cyrus  was  a  Persian  and  his 
father's  side  and  that  his  mother  was  a  Mede,  the 
daughter,  or  the  sister  of  Cyaxares.  Also  we  are  told 
that  Cyrus  spent  his  early  life  at  the  Median  court.  It 
would  seem  that  the  rapid  growth  of  Persia  with  Cyrus' 
conquests  and  his  kinship  to  the  Medes  gradually  ab- 
sorbed the  Medes  and  grew  into  what  historian  call  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  211 

Medo-Persian  empire.  So  then  Darius  may  have  been 
Cyaxares,  or  as  some  think,  Astyages.  There  are 
other  pointers  in  the  same  direction,  but  we  may  not 
dogmatize  about  it  because  we  lack  positive  informa- 
tion. The  critic,  however  dogmatizes  the  Book  of 
Daniel  into  incompetent  history  because  he  does  not 
know  who  was  Darius  the  Mede. 

The  most  plausible  attack,  however,  is  the  most  re- 
cent. There  has  lately  been  discovered  a  cylinder  giv- 
ing Cyrus'  own  account  of  the  fall  of  Babylon.  This 
seems  to  set  aside  the  long  accepted  account  gathered 
from  secular  history,  and  which  seemed  to  supplement 
Daniel's  account.  It  is  claimed  that  the  cylinder  sets 
aside  both  the  story  of  Daniel  and  the  story  of  the 
Greek  historians.  Cyrus  tells  us  of  a  peaceful  capitu- 
lation which  did  not  disturb  the  ordinary  business  of 
the  city  either  civil  or  commercial.  He  tells  also  that 
he  continued  Labinetus  in  the  civil  administration. 
No  mention  is  made  of  the  assassination  of  Belshazzar, 
nor  of  Darius  the  Mede.  The  critic  assumes  that 
Daniel  is  falsified  by  the  failure  of  Cyrus  to  mention 
these  two  things.  The  reply  is  this,  about  one  third  of 
the  tablet,  about  the  middle,  is  so  damaged  and  obliter- 
ated that  it  cannot  be  deciphered,  and  we  have  only  a 
part  of  Cyrus'  account.  If  we  had  it  all  it  might  con- 
firm all  that  Daniel  says  and  also  cohere  with  the  main 
features  of  the  traditional  historical  account.  Nothing 
quoted  above,  as  deciphered,  contradicts  Daniel's  ac- 
count. 

II.  Our  purpose  in  these  brief  discussions  has  not 
been  to  confute  the  critics,  nor  to  vindicate  the  truth  of 
the  Bible  in  its  historical  accuracy  and  credibility. 
Such  a  purpose  were  far  too  wide  to  be  brought  into 
the  brief  compass  of  a  single  chapter.     Our  purpose 


212  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

has  been  simply  to  illustrate  the  methods  of  the  destruc- 
tive critics  and  to  show  how  the  monuments  and 
archaeological  discoveries  have  so  often  and  so 
promptly  nullified  criticisms,  and  positively  verified 
the  historicity  of  the  Scriptures.  Surely  an  all  wise 
providence  hid  away  the  archives  of  a  thousand  years 
in  imperishable  places  and  is  bringing  them  to  light 
again  just  when  they  are  needed  to  confute  the  adver- 
sary. So  far  their  testimonies  all  agree  and  we  may 
expect  it  to  be  so  to  the  end, 

12.  There  has  arisen  another  school  of  critics,  if  it 
be  another  school,  that  we  shall  only  define  and  clas- 
sify. Some  of  the  more  honest  destructive  critics  have 
been  convinced  by  the  testimony  of  the  monuments 
and  have  deserted  their  fellows  and  have  even  turned 
the  batteries  of  the  monuments,  bricks  and  stones,  upon 
their  quandam  allies,  and  do  show  them  but  scant 
mercy.  For  this  we  are  truly  grateful.  Their  posi- 
tion is  easily  stated.  They  concede  the  general  truth- 
fulness of  the  monuments  and  at  the  same  time  recog- 
nize many  defects  of  such  records.  They  find  much  that 
is  fanciful  and  puerile,  distorted  and  contradictory,  as 
well  as  true;  and  they  say  that  they  are  to  be  judged 
by  the  same  standards  as  Herodotus  or  Diodorus  Sicu- 
lus  whose  histories  overlap  these  ancient  periods. 

Then  they  tell  us  that  these  records  are  the  original 
sources  from  which  Bible  history  is  drawn ;  and  that  its 
truthfulness  is  based  on  the  truthfulness  of  the  records 
from  which  it  is  drawn.  The  stream  can  rise  no  higher 
than  its  fountain.  They  profess  to  redeem  Bible  his- 
tory from  the  limbus  into  which  the  destructive  critic 
had  thrown  it,  and  bring  it  up  to  the  level  of  ordinary 
human  history.  They  recognize  no  inspired  historian, 
no  divine  authorship,  no  basic  inerrant  facts  on  which 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  213 

to  build  morality  and  religion,  doctrine  and  practice. 
Thanks  and  admiration  are  demanded  by  them  because 
of  this  valiant  defense  of  the  truth.  Can  we  allow 
them  to  pose  as  doughty  champions  for  the  truth? 
They  are  still  critics.  Shall  we  classify  them  as  con- 
structive or  destructive?  Or  shall  we  call  them  by 
their  own  preferred  name,  "devout  critics?"  The  con- 
structive critic  may  be  as  devout  as  they.  The  de- 
structive critic  claims  to  be  a  devout  seeker  and  tester 
of  truth.  We  cannot  therefore  classify  them  as  de- 
vout. 

Shall  we  call  him  a  constructive  critic  who  denies 
the  divine  authorship  of  Bible  history?  Who  de- 
grades it  to  the  level  of  the  records  of  a  polytheistic 
paganism?  Who  tells  us  that  the  "Most  High  God" 
of  Melchizedek  was  the  sun  god  of  the  Babylonians, 
and  that  Abraham  paid  him  tithes  because  it  was  the 
custom?  That  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego 
were  ignorant  corruptions  of  the  names  of  Babylonish 
divinities?  And  so  on  ad  infinitum.  "But  what's  in  a 
name?"  How  would  the  name  "semi-destructive"  fit 
the  case?  This  much  is  to  be  said  in  his  favor,  he  has 
looked  over  the  edge  of  the  precipice  and  has  drawn 
back ;  and  he  is  in  a  more  favorable  attitude  to  return 
to  old  fashioned  faith  in  the  word  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

The  Synagogue. 

As  soon  as  natural  religion  discovers  and  recog- 
nizes the  existence  of  God,  and  his  relations  to  his 
creatures,  it  suggests  and  enforces  the  duty  of  rever- 
ence, honor  and  obedience.  If  there  were  no  revela- 
tion man  would  of  necessity  invent  and  practice  modes 
and  forms  of  worship.  He  has  done  so  in  all  ages,  as- 
sisted and  directed  largely  by  traditions  which  doubt- 
less had  their  origin  in  early  revelations. 

It  is  plain,  without  argument,  that  true  worship  is 
heart  worship.  "God  is  a  Spirit;  and  they  that  wor- 
ship him,  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
Jno.  iv.  24.  "To  this  man  will  I  look,  even  to  him  that 
is  poor  and  of  a  contrite  spirit  and  trembleth  at  my 
word."     Is.  Ixvi.  2. 

Mere  forms  of  worship  can  have  no  real  value  in 
any  system  of  religion,  natural  or  revealed.  Still  there 
must  be  forms  of  worship  and  modes  of  intercourse  be- 
tween man  and  God.  Man  is  not  left  to  invent  these 
and  to  decide  upon  their  fitness.  The  difficulty  of  so 
doing  is  enhanced  by  man's  sin  and  ruin.  Revelation 
alone  could  furnish  a  plan  of  Salvation,  and  all  doc- 
trine, practice,  and  worship  constitute  most  intimate 
and  essential  parts  of  that  plan  of  salvation. 

More  than  this,  all  forms  and  modes  of  worship,  all 
its  ordinances,  ritual,  ceremonial.  Sacramental,  and  the 
like,  and  all  the  franchises  and  institutions  of  the  wor- 
shippers, as  given  in  the  Scripture,  are  the  very  em- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  215 

bodiment  of  doctrine,  and  the  expression  of  the  pro- 
foundest  truths. 

It  is  therefore  easy  to  see  that  mere  human  inven- 
tions and  adaptations,  which  are  usually  called  will- 
worship  are  to  be  disallowed  in  religion.  Revelation 
is  the  only  supreme  authority.  Christ  rebuked  the 
Pharisees  because  they  "taught  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments of  men."  Their  false  doctrines  were  ex- 
pressed in  false  practices ;  and  their  false  practices  of 
human  invention  embodied  false  doctrine.  Every  in- 
stitution of  religion  was  thus  made  void,  and  a  refuge 
of  lies  substituted  in  its  place. 

We  may  therefore  enunciate  this  propositon ;  the 
forms,  the  modes,  the  spirit,  the  times,  the  conditions, 
and  the  circumstances  of  worship  are  of  divine  appoint- 
ment and  regulation ;  and  the  very  organization,  gov- 
ernment, and  franchises  of  the  worshippers  are  of  di- 
vine origination  and  authority.  This  proposition  will 
be  elucidated  as  we  proceed.  This  opens  up  a  broad 
and  expansive  theme  which  calls  for  a  rapid  sketch  of 
God-given  institutions  from  the  beginning  to  the  rise 
of  the  Synagogue,  which  we  propose  to  discuss  in  the 
light  of  the  principles  already  enunciated. 

I.  The  Gospel  dates  back  to  the  Fall  of  Man.  A 
plan  of  salvation  was  announced  and  put  into  opera- 
tion. The  Protevangelion  is  the  promise  that  the  seed 
of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  A 
ceremonial  and  ritual  system  was  oppointed  and  prac- 
ticed. It  was  evidently  typical  and  prophetic.  Two 
oflferings  were  appointed,  the  blood  offering  and  the  meat 
offering;  one  for  atonement  and  the  other  a  thank  of- 
fering. It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  these  offerings 
were  of  human  invention  because  they  were  typical' 
and  prophetic,  to  be  fulfilled  four  thousand  years  later ; 


2«t6  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

and  besides,  these  two  forms  of  sacrifice  and  offering 
constituted  the  very  heart  and  core  of  the  ceremonial 
and  typical  system  enacted  and  elaborated  at  Sinai,  and 
practised  in  all  essential  features  from  the  beginning. 

In  course  of  time  two  rival  theories  divided  the 
race.  Cain  and  his  party  rejected  the  vicarious  bloody 
offering  as  not  needed,  just  as  men  do  to-day,  and  ex- 
alted the  thank  offering  as  the  sun  of  all  requirements. 
There  is  no  need  here  to  trace  the  feud  further — Abel's 
vindication,  the  murder,  the  separation  and  the  final 
doom  of  nearly  the  whole  race  at  the  flood.  Cain's 
rationalistic  will-worship  bore  its  fruits. 

2.  No  doubt  there  was  before  the  flood  some  form 
of  organized  religious  life,  and  some  form  of  hierarchy 
as  in  after  times,  for  the  offices  or  functions  of  prophet, 
priest  and  king  were  associated  in  some  form  in  past 
ages,  and  were  of  the  very  essence  of  organized  reli- 
gious life.  Whatever  the  form  of  that  hierarchy  was 
before  the  flood  it  had  failed.  It  was  doubtless  patri- 
archal, as  it  continued  to  be  for  a  long  time  afterwards. 

After  Noah  men  multiplied  on  the  earth  and  a  nev/ 
experiment  became  necessary  which  gradually  super- 
seded all  else.  Abraham  was  called  to  be  the  father 
and  head  of  a  new  organization,  which  should  live  in 
varied  outward  form  till  the  end  of  time.  The  Abra- 
hamic  covenant  spans  and  includes  several  and  all  dis- 
pensations of  organized  church  life  afterward,  and  to- 
day, "If  ye  be  Christ's  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed  and 
heirs  according  to  the  promise." 

We  have  some  indications  of  an  older  hierarchy  in 
Abraham's  day  and  afterward,  which  gradually  fell  into 
decay  in  the  growing  general  apostasy.  Melchizedek 
is  the  most  conspicuous  example — a  high  priest,  called 
of  God,  having  family  priests  in  his  district  or  diocese. 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  217 

Abraham  lived  for  years  under  him  and  paid  him  tithes, 
and  Jethro  seems  to  have  been  a  prince,  priest,  and 
prophet  of  Midian.  Potipherah,  priest  of  On  in  Egypt 
under  the  Shepherd  rule,  seems  to  belong  to  the  same 
order;  and  Baalam,  of  the  Midianites  later  on,  seems  to 
mark  a  stage  in  the  corruption  and  decay  of  the  system, 
while  the  new  regime  under  Moses  is  taking  on  its 
organic  life. 

3.  The  first  form  and  dress  of  the  Abrahamic  cove- 
nant was  patriarchal.  The  church  was  largely  limited 
to  the  family.  The  father  was  the  religious  head  and 
teacher  of  his  house ;  his  firstborn  was  first  his  subor- 
dinate and  then  his  successor.  The  father  was  ob- 
viously the  civil  head  of  his  family.  He  ofifered  sacri- 
fices and  was  therefore  a  priest ;  and  he  was  also  a 
prophet  because  he  had  the  oracle.  This  last  proposi- 
tion is  both  logically  and  historically  true.  Thus  every 
patriarch  was  a  type  of  Christ,  the  true  prophet,  priest, 
and  king  of  his  people.  There  seem  to  have  been  no 
ministers  of  religion  in  his  system  outside  the  family, 
and  for  obvious  reasons. 

The  tent,  the  house,  the  home,  was  the  church  or 
place  of  assembly;  sometimes  they  assembled  under 
the  spreading  oak,  or  under  the  broad  canopy  of 
heaven ;  and  the  hill-top  was  the  place  for  altar  and 
sacrifice. 

4.  Four  hundred  and  thirty  years  after  the  Abra- 
hamic covenant  was  given  the  Mosaic  system  was  en- 
graiTed  on  the  covenant.  The  church  has  outgrown 
the  family ;  the  families  have  grown  into  tribes ;  the 
tribes  have  grown  into  petty  states ;  and  they  need  to 
be  adjusted  to  each  other  into  a  federal  commonwealth. 
The  family,  the  church,  and  the  state  need  to  have  their 
relations  readjusted  in  infinite  wisdom.     The  doctrines 


2i8  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

of  the  ages  were  made  permanent.  The  moral  law  was 
proclaimed  as  the  basis  of  all  their  institutions.  The 
ceremonial  law  was  written  and  enforced  and  its  de- 
tails adjusted  to  changing  conditions.  The  doctrines 
of  civil  government  were  expounded  and  illustrated. 
The  priestly  office  was  taken  from  the  firstborn  and 
lodged  in  the  house  of  Aaron.  The  prophetic  function 
was  assigned  to  the  priest's  oracle,  and  to  a  numerous 
line  of  prophets,  specially  called  to  the  office.  The 
oracles  of  God  were  committed  to  their  keeping  against 
the  time  of  universal  apostasy  among  the  nations. 
Rom.  iii.  i,  2. 

The  government  was  made  theocratic.  Jehovah  be- 
came the  civil  king  by  formal  vote  and  covenant.  The 
tabernacle  was  the  royal  pavilion.  The  mercy-sea' 
was  his  throne,  and  the  shekinah  was  the  visible  mani- 
festation of  his  presence.  Later  on  the  temple  was  his 
palace  and  Jerusalem  the  city  of  the  great  king.  There 
was  much  of  imposing  ritual  and  gorgeous  pantomine 
adapted  to  civil  and  national  worship  in  addition  to  the 
simpler  ritual  for  personal  worship.  The  tabernacle 
had  a  civil  as  well  as  an  ecclesiastical  side,  and  so  also 
the  temple,  for  the  same  Lord  was  head  over  both  the 
church  and  the  state. 

5.  Even  the  provision  for  strictly  moral  or  spiritual 
worship  vastly  exceeded  the  ceremonial.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  call  the  Mosaic  economy  a  ceremonial  system 
except  that  the  ritual  was  an  integral  part  of  it.  The 
family  was  the  training  school  in  simple  spiritual  wor- 
ship. The  universal  constitution  for  family  religion 
for  all  ages  is  found  in  Deut.  vi.  6-9. 

Then  the  family  was  assisted  by  the  Levites  who 
were  the  educators  of  the  people,  and  all  education  was 
religious  rather  than  secular.     The  prophets  were  in- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  219 

spired  expounders  of  truth  taking  no  part  in  the  ritual 
except  on  occasion.  ReHgious  assembhes  were  still 
held  in  the  home.  Proseuchae  and  synagogues  were 
not  yet  built.  The  people  were  required  to  spend  but 
three  Sabbaths  in  attendance  at  the  tabernacle,  and 
then  only  the  males  were  required  to  attend.  The 
other  forty-nine  Sabbaths  belonged  to  the  moral  and 
spiritual  worship, 

6.  That  which  was  peculiar  to  the  Sinaitic  covenant 
was  intended  only  as  a  temporary  form  and  dress  for 
the  Abrahamic  covenant.  It  must  wax  old  and  decay 
and  in  due  season  must  pass  away. 

The  Captivity  marked  as  distinct  an  epoch  as  Sinai. 
There  was  change  or  revolution  everywhere.  The 
two  kingdoms  were  destroyed,  never  to  be  reorganized. 
The  tribal  federation  disappeared  forever.  The  tribal 
organizations  were  broken  down  and  tribal  distinc- 
tions largely  lost  with  their  genealogies. 

The  Levitical  system  of  education  was  disorganized. 
The  inspired  teaching  of  the  prophets  was  largely  super- 
seded by  the  expanding  bulk  of  written  revelation.  The 
patriarchal  system  of  family  religion,  including  doctrine 
and  discipline,  was  so  disorganized  and  broken  up  that 
it  could  not  be  restored.  The  ceremonial  and  ritual  ser- 
vice of  the  temple  ceased  for  seventy  years,  and  when 
restored  was  local,  limited  and  temporary. 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  people  returned,  or 
could  return  to  Palestine.  It  was  impossible  for  the 
Jews  of  the  dispersion  to  go  to  Jerusalem  three  times  a 
year,  and  their  ambition  was  soon  limited  to  the  attend- 
ance on  one  Passover  in  a  lifetime.  All  this  indicated 
that  the  ritual  was  waxing  old  and  ready  to  pass  away. 
What  shall  take  its  place? 


220  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

7.  The  Synagogue  system  became  a  necessity.  It  was 
engrafted  on  the  Abrahamic  Covenant,  as  the  Catholic 
and  universal  feature,  adapted  to  changed  conditions,  and 
adapted  to  all  nations  and  peoples  under  heaven.  In  the 
development  of  the  system,  it  overlapped  the  waning 
ritual  system  for  several  hundred  years  and  became  the 
final  dress  and  form  of  the  church  when  the  ritual  passed 
away. 

There  are  no  historic  data  to  show  exactly  when  and 
how  the  synagogue  originated  nor  how  rapidly  it  grew. 
It  certainly  was  not  enacted  into  full  existence  like  the 
Sinaitic  Covenant,  but  was  a  development  more  akin  to 
the  gradual  growth  of  the  patriarchal  system,  or  rather 
like  societies  and  churches  which  have  multiplied  as  oc- 
casion required.  Every  separate  synagogue  was  a  society, 
and  all  were  organized  on  the  same  model  and  for  the 
same  purpose.  Tradition  indicates  that  the  synagogue 
originated  during  the  captivity  when  the  Jews  were  un- 
der the  guidance  and  advice  of  the  prophets,  Daniel  and 
Ezekiel,  and  extended  to  the  entire  dispersion  and  served 
to  preserve  the  traditions  and  worship,  and  the  organic 
life  of  the  people  under  all  conditions. 

Synagogues  were  extremely  numerous  after  the  time 
of  the  Maccabees.  There  were  said  to  be  four  hundred 
and  sixty  or  even  more  in  Jerusalem  alone,  and  the  sys- 
tem was  developed  into  a  great  spiritual  commonwealth 
throughout  the  world. 

Some  think  that  the  system  was  somewhat  in  vogue 
before  the  captivity,  quoting  Ps.  Ixxiv.  8,  but  the  exegesis 
is  not  conclusive.  And  if  they  are  right  it  does  not  at 
all  afifect  the  trend  of  this  discussion  except  to  confirm 
and  strengthen  it. 

The  organization  of  the  synagogue  was  very  much 
like  a  Jewish  synagogue  or  a  Christian  church  of  the 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  221 

present  day.  Fourteen  persons  in  any  community,  ten 
of  whom  would  engage  to  attend  regular  meetings  on 
the  Sabbath  and  two  days  in  the  week,  were  a  sufficient 
nucleus.  The  officers  were  a  board  of  elders  or  rulers 
who  were  responsible  for  the  worship,  doctrine,  and  dis- 
cipline. The  presiding  officer  was  called  the  malak  or 
angel  of  the  synagogue.  He  seems  to  have  been  the  pas- 
tor and  the  moderator,  and  the  responsible  head,  like  the 
Rabbi  of  to-day.  There  was  also  one  or  more  ministers 
or  servants  or  deacons  who  had  charge  of  the  buildings, 
books,  and  other  secular  interests,  with  oversight  over 
the  poor. 

Their  worship  was  simple,  and  consisted  of  prayers. 
Scripture  reading,  preaching  and  expounding  the  law,  and 
collections  for  the  poor,  and  also  the  singing  of  Psalms. 
The  synagogue  therefore  was  the  place  for  simple, 
spiritual  worship,  and  the  cultivation  of  intelligent  piety 
and  good  works.  They  built  houses  every  where,  and 
every  house  was  the  rallying  place  and  the  centre  of 
Jewish  life,  and  their  drill  place  and  armory  in  their  war- 
fare with  paganism.  The  Jewish  people  were  scattered 
every  where,  and  devotion  and  piety  were  saved  and  pro- 
moted. Immense  numbers  of  pagans,  especially  women, 
became  members,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time  Christ  came. 

The  temple  was  destroyed  and  the  ritual  ceased  by  the 
logic  of  events  rather  than  by  any  positive  enactment. 
The  synagogue  remained.  The  synagogue  was  the  ma- 
trix and  protecting  sheath  for  Christianity.  The  Gospel 
was  preached  every  where,  first  in  the  synagogues.  The 
Jews  were  by  no  means  all  apostates.  Many  were  de- 
vout and  pious,  waiting  for  the  "Hope  of  Israel."  Large 
numbers  of  Gentiles  were  trained  in  the  same  faith  and 
hope.     The  devout,  both  Jew  and  Gentile,  believed  and 


222  Selected  Old  Testament  Studies 

rejoiced  when  convinced  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ. 
Others  were  hardened. 

BeHeving  synagogues  became  churches.  In  other 
cases  believers  withdrew  or  were  cast  out  and  were  or- 
ganized in  private  houses  or  elsewhere.  The  sj'nagogue 
system  was  parted  into  two  streams,  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian, and  will  come  together  again  when  the  fullness  of 
the  Gentiles  shall  be  brought  in. 

The  synagogue  became  the  church  without  upheaval 
or  revolution.  The  Abrahamic  covenant  moved  on  un- 
der this  form  and  dress  as  the  ritual  system  gradually 
fell  away. 

What  were  the  true  relations  of  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity? Was  it  antagonism,  rivalry,  hostility,  and  war- 
fare? By  no  means.  Christianity  was  the  flowering  out 
and  full  fruitage  of  Judaism.  The  century  plant  grows 
with  its  massive  succulent  leaves,  green  and  vigorous, 
for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  Near  the  close  of  the  cen- 
tury a  central  shoot  or  stalk  starts  slowly  upward.  As 
it  mounts  up,  its  head  is  crowned  with  a  gigantic  bud 
that  has,  folded  in  it,  the  hope  of  the  century.  Those 
great  leathery  leaves  in  the  mean  time  have  yielded  up 
their  fatness  to  the  central  stalk  and  lie  withered  and 
shrunken  around  its  base,  and  at  last  the  gigantic  flower 
at  the  top  has  unfolded  all  its  petals  and  stands  the  pride 
and  glory  of  its  hundred  years,  the  fulfilment  of  its 
promise  and  destiny.  So  Judaism  was  the  great  millen- 
nial plant  of  the  ages,  and  Christianity  grew  out  of  its 
protecting  sheath  and  fulfilled  all  its  promise. 

We  may  close  this  discussion  with  three  propositions. 

I.  The  synagogue  model  is  the  Scriptural  church  and 
finds  best  expression  in  Presbytcrianism,  for  which  we 
claim  jure  divino  authority  besides,  on  a  fair  exegesis  of 
the  Scriptures.     Each  unit  is  a  complete  and  perfect  or- 


Selected  Old  Testament  Studies  223 

ganism,  and  the  whole  constitutes  a  spiritual  common- 
wealth of  tremendous  power  for  good.  It  is  opposed  to 
Prelacy  on  the  one  hand  and  Independency  on  the  other. 

2.  Independency  disintegrates  the  commonwealth  and 
makes  each  church  independent  of  all  others,  and  the 
final  judge  of  all  questions  of  doctrine  and  discipline. 

3.  'Prelacy  centralizes  into  a  despotism,  destroys  the 
autonomy  of  the  unit  and  takes  away  the  franchises  and 
liberties  of  the  people.  Besides,  it  seeks  to  restore  the 
shrunken  and  wasted  foliage  of  Judaism,  its  temple,  its 
priests,  its  alters,  its  vestments,  its  candles,  and  its  gor- 
geous pantomime  worship. 


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